Cause of death among gastric cancer survivors in the United States from 2000 to 2020 - Observational Study - Abstract

Sep 21, 2026

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A number of studies have been conducted to explore the survival of gastric cancer (GC) patients, while studies about non-cancer causes of death in patients with GC are not well-conducted. This observational study uses the SEER database to analyze demographics, tumor characteristics, and causes of death for GC patients from 2000–2020. Standardized mortality ratios quantify all-cause mortality across follow-up intervals. Among 116,437 patients, GC dominated deaths, while cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases were leading non-cancer causes, with non-cancer risk increasing by latency.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages8

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Abstract

Introduction

Materials and methods

Data source and study population

® Observational Study Cause of death among gastric cancer survivors in the United States from 2000 to 2020 Jingyuan Liao, MDa ,b , Jia Xu, MDa ,b , Shu Huang, MD, PhDc ,d , Jiao Jiang, MDa ,b , Nan Hu, MDa ,b , Wei Zhang, MD, PhDa ,b , Lei Shi, MDa ,b , Mingming Deng, MDa ,b , Xiaowei Tang, MD, PhDa ,b , Qiong Yan, MDa ,b ,* | Abstract
A number of studies have been conducted to explore the survival of gastric cancer (GC) patients, while studies about non-cancer causes of death in patients with GC are not well-conducted. The aim of this study was to deeply investigate the causes of death (COD) in GC patients, especially non-cancer ones. The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database was used to extract information including demographics, tumor characteristics and causes of death of GC patients meeting the inclusion criteria. The patients were stratified by demographic and clinical parameters. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for all causes of death at different follow-up periods. A total of 116,437 patients with GC diagnosed between 2000 and 2020 were retrieved from the SEER database. Of these, 85,827 deaths occurred during the follow-up period, most of which occurred within 1 year after GC diagnosis. GC (n = 49,746; 58%) was the leading COD, followed by other cancer (n = 21,135; 25%) and noncancer causes (n = 14,946; 17%) . Diseases of heart were the most common non-cancer cause of death, accounting for 30%, followed by cerebrovascular diseases (n = 917; 6%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 900; 6%) . Although gastric cancer remains the most common cause of death in gastric cancer patients, it should not be ignored that the risk of non-cancer causes tends to increase with the length of the latency period. These findings may provide important insights into the healthcare management of gastric cancer patients at various follow-up intervals. | | --- | | Abbreviations: APC = annual percentage change, CI = confidence interval , COD = causes of death , GC = gastric cancer, IBM = incidence-based mortality, LC = liver cirrhosis, SEER = surveillance, epidemiology and end results, SMR = standardized mortality ratio, US = United States. | | Keywords: causes of death, gastric cancer, non-cancer causes of death, SEER | 1. Introduction Gastric cancer (GC) was the fifth and third most common cause of cancer morbidity and mortality globally in 2020.[1] There were approximately 26,380 new estimated cases and 11,090 estimated deaths in the United States (US) in 2022.[2] A steady decline in the morbidity and mortality rates has been observed over the past century. However, more cases are expected to be observed in the future because of the aging population. [1] Although the survival rates of gastric cancer remain poor, the improvement of treatment strategies has positively impacted patients diagnosed with localized and regional stage gastric cancer. For example, improvements in survival trends occurred in the 5-year survival rate of GC patients with localized (in 2000, 46% vs in 2010, 60%) and regional disease (in 2000, 20% vs in 2010, 30%) in the United States. [3] With prolonged survival, the significance of non-cancer causes of death JL, JX, and SH contributed equally to this work. The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are publicly available. Supplemental Digital Content is available for this article. a Department of Gastroenterology, the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China, b Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Luzhou, China, c Department of Gastroenterology, Lianshui County People’ Hospital, Huaian, China, d Department of Gastroenterology, Lianshui People’ Hospital of Kangda College Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Huaian, China. *Correspondence: Qiong Yan, Department of Gastroente

FAQs

What is the study’s main goal regarding causes of death in gastric cancer survivors?

To investigate causes of death among gastric cancer (GC) patients, with emphasis on non-cancer causes, and to clarify how their distribution changes across follow-up intervals.

Which database and software were used to conduct the analysis?

The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database was used, with SEER*Stat software to obtain the study data.

What were the most common non-cancer causes of death reported?

Diseases of the heart were the most common non-cancer cause (about 30%), followed by cerebrovascular diseases (6%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6%).

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Noah