prevalence of stomach cancer in shiraz, southern iran

background: worldwide, cancer of stomach is still the fourth common cancer and the second cause of mortality among all cancers affecting annually 870,000 subjects. this study aims to determine the frequency and the characteristics of gastric cancer in southern iran. materials and methods: 10,800 of all cancers registered in fars hospital-based cancer registry were surveyed among which 574 cases were gastric cancer in both genders and all age groups. from january 2002 to december 2007, all hospital-based data were recorded according to international classification of disease for oncology (icd-o) and registered cases included all invasive cancers in icd-10 categories of c-00 to c-80 and all duplicate cases were eliminated. results: among all registered cancers, there were 574 cases of gastric cancer including 69.3% males. the mean age of patients was 58.1 ± 14.8 years, 25.4% with a history of in their first relatives and most of them were smokers (50.9%) and from low socioeconomic class (45.5%). metastasis was visible in 182 patients and majority of them underwent surgery (64.3%). the majority of gastric cancer patients were older than 50 years, smokers, low socioeconomic class, and female in favor of adenocarcinoma. conclusion: our results showed that in our area, treatment programs and health plans should focus on men, patients older than 50 years and with adenocarcinoma, smokers, and those in a low income level.