Introduction
Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most frequent diseases in both men and women globally, with around 990,000 new cases identified each year.1-2 It is the third or fourth biggest cause of mortality in the globe, accounting for around 738,000 fatalities per year.1-3 Incidence rates of GC differ between men and women, as well as between countries. Males are three times as likely than females to have GC disease.1-2 More than fifty percent of new cases of GC are predicted to occur in developing nations, with the greatest rates in Central and South America, Eastern Europe, and East Asia (China and Japan), and the lowest rates in Australia and New Zealand, Southern Asia, North and East Africa, North America, and Canada.1&4
The incidence rates of GC have declined in the majority of the world over the past few decades.5 The incidence of sporadic intestinal GC has declined, but the incidence of diffuse GC has increased.6-7 However, the risk of acquiring GC is significantly affected by several factors, such as genetics, nutrition, alcohol intake, smoking, Helicobacter pylori infection, and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection.1
In the US, GC accounts for around 1.5% of newly diagnosed cancer cases each year. According to the American Cancer Society, 26,380 new cases of GC will be detected in 2022 (15,900 in men and 10,480 in women), while 11,010 fatalities will be attributed to the disease (6,690 men and 4,400 women).8
It was predicted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that in 2020, the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) of GC in Saudi Arabia would be 2.7 per 100,000 people across all age groups and sexes (ranking 15), while the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) would be 2.1 per 100,000 people (Ranking 12).9 In addition, the ASIR of GC was much lower in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait compared to the rest of the Arabian Gulf. In 2020, the reported ASIR for all sexes and all ages was higher in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates than in Saudi Arabia, at 8.0, 5.2, 4.8, and 4.4, respectively.
This study’s primary objectives were to investigate the prevalence of GC in the Saudi population. To achieve this, we focused in on CIR and ASIR, which were then categorized according to the year of diagnosis, geographical region, and age group. As a result, we plan to carry out observational descriptive epidemiological research of the GC, taking into consideration the regional and temporal distribution of cases that have been documented in the SCR between the years 2004 and 2017.