Korean J Gastroenterol Vol. 71 No. 1, 1-2 https://doi.org/10.4166/kjg.2018.71.1.1 pISSN 1598-9992 eISSN 2233-6869
EDITORIAL
Korean J Gastroenterol, Vol. 71 No. 1, January 2018 www.kjg.or.kr
아토피 피부염이 위암 발생을 줄이는가?
조수정
국립암센터 위암센터
Does Atopic Dermatitis Reduce the Incidence of Gastric Cancer?
Soo-Jeong Cho
Center for Gastric Cancer, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea
Article: Associations between Atopic Dermatitis and Risk of Gastric Cancer: A Nationwide Population-based Study (Korean J Gastroenterol 2018;71:38-44)
CC This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright © 2018. Korean Society of Gastroenterology.
교신저자: 조수정, 10408, 고양시 일산동구 일산로 323, 국립암센터 위암센터
Correspondence to: Soo-Jeong Cho, Center for Gastric Cancer, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang 10408, Korea. Tel: +82-31-920-1604, Fax: +82-31-920-1289, E-mail: crystal522@ncc.re.kr
Financial support: None. Conflict of interest: None.
The potential for allergies to have a promoting or pro- tective role in cancer has been an interesting research topic in recent times. Several studies have suggested that a dys- regulation of immune function in patients with histories of allergies may be associated with increased risk of cancer.1-5 Over the past several decades, epidemiologic and clinical data have shown an association between allergic diseases and cancer.1-8 A few epidemiologic studies, in particular, have examined the association between allergic diseases and gastric cancer, suggesting that asthma may be asso- ciated with reduced risk of gastric cancer.9,10
Recently, Jo et al.11 reported an association between al- lergic diseases and risk of gastric cancer via the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), which is a large nationwide population-based dataset. The survey collected detailed information about the participants’ demographics, anthropometric measures, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, medical histories, healthcare utilization, biochemical laboratory test results,
radiography test results, food intakes, and dietary beha- viors.12 They investigated the association between the risk of gastric cancer and allergic diseases, including atopic der- matitis, asthma, allergic rhinitis, and any allergic diseases.
Allergic diseases showed a tendency to be associated with reduced risks of gastric cancer, but without statistical significance. Multivariable analysis showed that a history of atopic dermatitis was associated with reduced risk of gas- tric cancer in men (odds ratio, 0.16; 95% confidence inter- val, 0.03-0.75). Although this study involved a large number of subjects, the diagnosis of allergic disease and gastric cancer was self-reported via a questionnaire survey, result- ing in recall or misclassification biases. Cross-sectional de- sign caused difficulties with respect to inferring causations based on the observed associations. Additionally, the data of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) was lacking in the study. H.
pylori, one of the most powerful risk factors in gastric carci- nogenesis, can interact with allergic diseases. With this considered, there will likely be an inverse relationship be-
2 조수정. 아토피 피부염이 위암 발생을 줄이는가?
The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology
tween them.13
However, this study suggested that certain types of aller- gies may be associated with reduced risk of gastric cancer.
Further longitudinal cohort study may be necessary to re- veal a more concrete answer regarding this topic. The mechanism of H. pylori eradication treatment with respect to the risk of both gastric cancer and allergic diseases will be an interesting topic to study.
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