Fish sauce and gastric cancer:an ecological study in Fujian Province,China

AIM To explore the relationship betweenconsumption of fish sauce and the risk of gastriccancer in Fujian Province.METHODS An ecological study was carriedout.A total of 11000 subjects from 55 townshipswere randomly selected from 10 counties withinFujian Province.All subjects were localresidents who had been living in Fujian Provincefor more than 20 years,within the age group of45-74 years.Trained interviewers conductedface-to-face interviews with a standardizedquestionnaire,which covered the frequency andamount of food intake,dietary habit,tobaccoand alcohol consumption and history of chronicgastric diseases.Univariate and multivariateanalyses were performed using Epi-info and SASstatistical packages,respectively.RESULTS A significant correlation betweenmonthly consumption of fish sauce and mortalityof gastric cancer was found.Pearson’scoefficient of correlation was statisticallysignificant with r=0.7356 for males,r=0.5246for females(P<0.01).In the multivariateanalysis,consumption of fish sauce still showedan association with the risk of gastric cancer.No significant positive correlation betweenesophagus cancer,liver cancer,colon cancerand consumption of fish sauce were observed.CONCLUSION Long-term intake of fish saucemay be related to high mortality of gastriccancer.Consumption of fish sauce might be oneof important and unique etiologic factors ofgastric cancer in Fujian Province.Furtherstudies are needed to confirm this ecologicalstudy.