Benefits
Harms

Note: Separate PDQ summaries on Prevention of Gastric Cancer, Gastric Cancer Treatment, and Levels of Evidence for Cancer Screening and Prevention Studies are also available.

There is fair evidence to establish that screening would result in no decrease in mortality from gastric cancer in the US population.

There is good evidence that endoscopic screening would result in rare but serious side effects associated with endoscopy, which may include perforation, cardiopulmonary events, aspiration pneumonia, and bleeding requiring hospitalization.

Levels of Evidence

A: Study Design (Levels of Evidence 3, 5)

3: Evidence obtained from well-designed and conducted case-control studies.

5: Opinions of respected authorities based on clinical experience, descriptive studies, or reports of expert committees.

B: Internal Validity: Fair.

C: Consistency: Multiple studies, large number of participants, do not suggest a benefit.

D: Direction and Magnitude of Effect: Fair evidence for no reduction in mortality; good evidence for rare but serious harms.

Back to Top

Next Section >