Understanding and Preventing Advanced Gastric Cancer in Young Hispanic Patients

The risk of gastric cancer among immigrants from countries where Helicobacter pylori is endemic greatly exceeds those born in the United States. Among patients in the Los Angeles safety-net health system, the risk of advanced and fatal gastric cancer is higher in Hispanic versus non-Hispanic patients. There is an urgent need to define whether this reflects concomitant illnesses, such as metabolic disease, occupational exposures, or differential access to H. pylori eradication and endoscopic gastric cancer screening programs. See related article by Klingbeil et al., p. 75.