Abstract

Background: There is little information about the possible influence of lifestyle and etiologic risk factors on survival amongst patients with gastric cancer. Methods: We recruited a consecutive series of 249 patients with definite diagnosis of gastric cancer who had been hospitalized in Towhid Hospital, Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province in Western Iran during a five-year period from 2006 until 2011. Survival rate was calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier and log rank statistical methods. Cox hazard regression was used to investigate the effect of the variables and adjust for the effect of age. Results: According to univariate analysis, related variables that included age, gender, Residence, histology grade, histology type, familial history of gastrointestinal cancer and mental illness during the disease had no significant effects on survival rate variation. Significant independent factors on survival included past medical history of gastrointestinal diseases (P-value = 0.010), tobacco smoking (P-value = 0.012), and early diagnosis (P-value = 0.008). Cox-regression analysis of demographic, lifestyle and histological factors with >45 years of age as the reference revealed that patients 46-65 years of age at diagnosis (HR=0.602; 95 CI=0.250-1.44; P=0.256) and those >66 years of age (HR=1.07, 95 CI=0.46-2.50, P≤0.001) had an increased risk for disease progression and death. Conclusions: Past medical history of gastrointestinal diseases, tobacco smoking and early stage diagnosis might influence the long-term survival of patients with gastric cancer.