Published in:
01-06-2018 | Letter to the Editor
Reply to the letter to the editor: H. pylori test-and-treat should not be put off for gastric cancer prevention in East Asia any longer
Authors:
Hideki Mori, Hidekazu Suzuki
Published in:
Journal of Gastroenterology
|
Issue 6/2018
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Excerpt
I would like to thank Professor Antonio and Professor Natale for their interest and insightful comments to our review article entitled “World trend for
H.
pylori eradication therapy and for gastric cancer prevention strategy by
H.
pylori test-and-treat” [
1,
2]. Although you mentioned in your letter that the prevalence and mortality rate of gastric cancer has decreased after the 1940s and 1970s in the US and in Italy, respectively, the infection rate of
H.
pylori should have declined beforehand in both countries. In this context, many more decades will pass before the incidence and mortality rate of gastric cancer decreases in Asian countries with a high prevalence of
H.
pylori. In addition, as in Asian countries, the aging of the population is expected to advance rapidly; the incidence of gastric cancer may not decrease in the coming decades. Since the average life expectancy has been extended compared to that 100 years ago, it is very difficult only to wait for the natural decline of
H.
pylori infection and the incidence and death rate of gastric cancer. In fact, the
H.
pylori prevalence of 60 s in Japan remains higher than younger ages [
3]. …
