[The prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia according to gender, age and Helicobacter pylori infection in a rural population].

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia according to gender, age and Helicobacter pylori infection in a rural population in Korea. METHODS Between April 2003 and January 2007, 713 subjects (298 men and 415 women, age range: 18-85) among the 2,161 adults who participated in a population-based survey received gastrointestinal endoscopy. All the subjects provided informed consent. Multiple biopsy specimens were evaluated for the presence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. The presence of Helicobacter pylori was determined using CLO and histology testing. RESULTS The age-adjusted prevalence of atrophic gastritis was 42.7% for men and 38.1% for women and the prevalence of intestinal metaplasia was 42.5% for men and 32.7% for women. The prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia increased significantly with age for both men and women (p for trend<0.001). The age-adjusted prevalence of Helicobacter pylori was similar for men (59.0%) and women (56.7%). The subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection showed a significantly higher prevalence of intestinal metaplasia (44.3%) compared with that (26.8%) of the noninfected subjects (p<0.001). However, the prevalence of atrophic gastritis was not statistically different between the Helicobacter pylori-infected subjects and the noninfected individuals. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that the prevalence of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia is higher for a Korean rural population than that for a Western population; this may be related to the high incidence of gastric cancer in Koreans. Especially, the prevalence of intestinal metaplasia was high for the subjects with Helicobacter pylori infection. The multistep process of gastric carcinogenesis and the various factors contributing to each step of this process need to be determined by conducting future follow-up studies.