Systematic review: gastric cancer incidence in pernicious anaemia. Issue 4 (10th December 2012) - Vannella, L.
Summary: Background: Pernicious anaemia (PA) has an increased risk for gastric cancer (GC). It is not established whether PA patients need to undergo endoscopic/histological follow‐up. Aim: To provide a systematic overview of the literature on PA and the development of gastric cancer, to estimate the gastric cancer incidence‐rate. Methods: According to PRISMA, we identified studies on PA patients reporting the incidence of gastric cancer. Quality of studies was evaluated using the Newcastle‐Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Meta‐analysis on annual gastric cancer incidence rates was performed. Results: Twenty‐seven studies met eligibility criteria. 7 studies were of high, 6 of medium, 10 of low and 4 of very low quality. Gastric cancer incidence‐rates ranged from 0% to 0.2% per person‐years in 7 American, from 0% to 0.5% in 2 Asiatic, from 0% to 1.2% in 11 Northern European studies and from 0% to 0.9% in 7 studies from other European countries. The incidence‐rates of gastric cancer ranged from 0% to 1.2% per person‐years in studies which used gastroscopy, from 0.1% to 0.9% in those based on International Classification of Disease. Heterogeneity between studies was not statistically significant at the 5% level (Chi‐squared test = 17.9, P = 0.08). The calculated pooled gastric cancer incidence‐rate was 0.27% per person‐years. Meta‐analysis showed overall gastric cancer relative risk in PA as 6.8 (95% CI: 2.6–18.1). Conclusions: This systematic review shows a pooled gastric cancer incidence‐rate in pernicious anaemia of 0.27% per person‐years and an estimated nearly sevenfold relative risk of gastric cancer in pernicious anaemia patients. Further high quality studies are needed to confirm this higher risk.