Ginseng intake and gastric cancer risk in the Shanghai Women's Health Study cohort. Free

B169

Previous studies have shown that intake of ginseng, an herbal medicine commonly used in East-Asia, is associated with a reduced risk of gastric cancer in Korean populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between ginseng intake and gastric cancer risk in China. The study population included 74,942 women, aged 40-70 years old, who were enrolled in the Shanghai Women's Health Study between 1997 and 2000 in seven urban communities in Shanghai, China. Data on ginseng intake and potential confounders were collected using a questionnaire. Cancers were ascertained through biennial re-interviews and linkage with the Shanghai Cancer Registry and the Shanghai Vital Statistics Unit records. We used Cox proportional hazards model to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between ginseng use and gastric cancer. A total of 153 gastric cancer cases were diagnosed through June 30, 2004. The age-adjusted HR (95% CI) associated with ginseng use was 1.04 (0.74 - 1.45). There was no statistically significant association between years of ginseng intake and gastric cancer risk, with age-adjusted HR (95% CI) of 0.95 (0.81 - 1.11) for 5-year increments in ginseng intake duration. Excluding subjects with less than two years of follow-up from analysis did not make a notable difference in the results. In conclusion, we found no association between ginseng intake and gastric cancer risk in a large prospective cohort of Chinese women.