Efficacy of endoscopic screening in an isolated island: a case-control study

Although endoscopic screening has become more common in recent years, its efficacy in reducing the mortality from gastric cancer has not yet been demonstrated. We carried out a case-control study to evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic screening in Kamigoto town, Kamigoto Island. The case group consisted of 13 patients who died of gastric cancer between 2000 and 2008, and ten controls per patient, ie. a total of 130 controls, were extracted as the control group. To clarify the relationship between participation in endoscopic screening and gastric cancer mortality, the odds ratio of death from gastric cancer in participants vs. nonparticipants of screening was calculated. The odds ratio of death from gastric cancer in participants of endoscopic screening vs. nonparticipants was 0.206 (95 % CI, 0.044-0.965; p = 0.0449). Participation in endoscopic screening within the previous 5 years decreased the risk of death from gastric cancer by 79 %. Implementation of endoscopic screening was associated with a significant reduction in mortality from gastric cancer in the small island town.