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Background: Gastric cancer (GC) incidence is declining heterogeneously worldwide. We aimed to calculate updated mortality trends for GC. Methods: We investigated time trends for selected countries using the World Health Organization database. We computed age‐standardized mortality rates (ASMR) per 100,000 persons over the 1990–2019 period. We reported rates for the 2010–2014 and 2015–19 calendar periods, and the corresponding percent changes. We used joinpoint regression analysis to identify changes in the slope of mortality trends, and predict the number of deaths and rates for 2025. We also reported 2008–2012 incidence rates of cardia and noncardia GC. Results: Mortality trends from GC have been favorable since 1990 for all countries analyzed and the European Union (EU 27), in both sexes and all ages. GC mortality is predicted to decline in all countries for both sexes, except for French and US women aged 35–64 years, and Canadian men aged 35–64. The highest proportions of cardia GC were observed in Northern and Central Europe while the lowest ones in Southern and Eastern Europe. Elsewhere, the highest proportions were registered in countries with low incidence and mortality rates, whereas high‐mortality countries showed lower proportions of cardia GC. Conclusion: Observed and predicted GC mortality trends declined in most countries in both sexes, with few exceptions, likely due to the control of GC risk factors, in particular Hp infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupation as a welder has been associated with a 25%–40% increase in lung cancer risk. This study aims to elucidate to what extent confounding by smoking and asbestos drives this association and to evaluate the role of welding-related exposures such as chromium. The study included 2,197 male incident lung cancer cases and 2,295 controls from Romania, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2001. Information on risk factors was collected through face-to-face interviews. Experts assessed exposure to 70 agents, and risk estimates were adjusted for smoking and occupational exposures. Occupation as a welder/flame cutter (prevalence controls: 3.7%) was associated with an odds ratio of 1.36 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.00, 1.86) after adjustment for smoking and occupational exposures including asbestos. An odds ratio of 1.18 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.38) was found for welding fumes (prevalence controls: 22.8%), increasing to 1.38 for more than 25 exposure years (95% CI: 1.09, 1.75). A duration-response association was also observed for mild steel welding without chromium exposure. In this population, occupational exposure to welding fumes accounted for approximately 4% of lung cancer cases, to which both stainless and mild steel welding contributed equally. Given that welding remains a common task for many workers, exposure to welding fumes represents an important risk factor for lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: BACKGROUND In a multicenter case-control study of lung cancer in central and eastern Europe and in Liverpool, exposure to occupational agents was assessed by teams of local experts. We performed an interteam agreement study to estimate the levels of exposure misclassification and the expected attenuation of the risk estimate.METHODS Eight teams of experts and a reference rater assessed exposure to 70 putative lung carcinogens for 19 jobs. Agreement among teams was calculated through Cohen's kappa, sensitivity, and specificity.RESULTS Each team showed an overall fair to good agreement with the reference (kappa between 0.53 and 0.64). The agreement among teams in the presence of exposure was excellent for 9 agents, fair to good for 16, and poor for 29. For all agents the specificity was high (average 0.94), although sensitivity varied considerably.CONCLUSIONS This study of expert exposure assessment showed a small range in reliability among teams of experts, but large differences among agents. This paper presents the range in levels of misclassification that can be expected using experts for assessing occupational exposure to different agents, and the attenuation of the odds ratio that can be expected to result from this misclassification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]