Gastric cancer accounts for 6% of cancer deaths in the U.K., where, as in most of the Western world its incidence is decreasing. However, the incidence varies dramatically across the globe and this cancer is the second commonest malignancy in Japan, Latin America and some parts of Northern Europe. For example, in Japan, the disease accounts for 60% of male cancer and 40% of female cancer incidence.
The geographic differences in incidence cannot be simply explained on racial lines/genetic predisposition, as second generation Japanese adopt an incidence that moves toward that of the country in which their parents became domiciled.
