Page 42 - IJSA, Vol. 6, No 1, 2023

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2023
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES. Health Care Sciences

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Influence of Behavioral and Social Factors on

Gastric Cancer Incidence and Mortality

Authors’ Contribution: Nikolov A. 1 ABCDEFG , Georgieva L. 2 DEFG
A – Study design;
B – Data collection; 1 Dental Clinic “Zahnzentrum Rudow“, Germany
C – Statistical analysis; 2 Medical University – Sofia, Bulgaria
D – Data interpretation;
E – Manuscript preparation;
F – Literature search; Received: 03.04.2023; Accepted: 07.05.2023; Published: 30.06.2023
G – Funds collection
Abstract
Background and The significance of the risk factors, including behavioral and social
Aim of Study: characteristics of the patients, for the occurrence of stomach cancer is constantly
increasing and largely determines the development and outcome of the disease.
The aim of the study: to provide empirical data for the significance of behavioral
and social factors on gastric cancer incidence and mortality.

Material and Methods: Data from a study of gastric cancer patients (234 men and 144 women) examined
at the Heidelberg University Clinic (Germany) were used. Risk factors, gastric
cancer survival and mortality, factors of fatal outcome of gastric cancer patients
were compared. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was used to
quantitatively assess their influence. To analyze the possible statistical
significance between different groups, we used Fisher’s exact test and chi-squared
test for the relationship between categorical variables and Student’s t-test. The
significance level (rejecting the null hypothesis) is p<0.05.

Results: The most common risk factors are lack of physical activity, smoking,
accompanying cardiovascular diseases, as well as emotional stress. Unhealthy
lifestyle increases the risk by 56.8%. With a lower but significant percentage are
overweight and alcohol abuse. We found the presence of emotional stress in
25.3% of patients with stomach cancer. Jobs with primary mental work and high
stress level increase the probability of negative outcome. Mainly mental work is
associated with about 8 times the risk of death compared to physical work. The
presence of stress increases the lethal risk about 3.2 times.

Conclusions: Risk factors related to healthy lifestyle of the patients, including mental health,
play an important role in the development of stomach cancer. They largely
determine the status, disease control, treatment, survival and mortality of gastric
cancer patients.

Keywords: risk factors, survival and mortality, smoking, stress, physical inactivity,
overweight, alcohol abuse

Copyright: © 2023 Nikolov A., Georgieva L. Published by Archives of International Journal
of Science Annals

DOI and UDC DOI https://doi.org/10.26697/ijsa.2023.1.4 UDC 616-082:616-006

Conflict of interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests

Peer review: Double-blind review

Source of support: This research did not receive any outside funding or support

Information about Nikolov Alexander (Corresponding Author) – https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5414-
the authors: 9378; [email protected]; PhD Student, Dental Clinic
“Zahnzentrum Rudow“, Berlin, Germany.

Georgieva Lidia – https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9320-9203; Doctor of Medical
Sciences, MD, Professor, Medical University – Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria.

40