Objective: In cancer prevention, the targeting of precancerous lesions has been recognized as the most promising method. However, little attention has been paid to the risk factors of precancerous gastric lesions, especially in rural China where there is high prevalence of precancerous gastric lesions. We therefore conducted a cross-sectional study in Liaoning province, China, to investigate the potential risk and protective factors of these precancerous gastric lesions.

Methods: A total of 1,179 subjects with high risk of gastric cancer from Zhuanghe County were included in this study. Standard questionnaires were used in collecting epidemiological factors and the data were then analyzed by the unconditional logistic regression model.

Results: Smoking and drinking were the risk factors for the precancerous gastric lesions among rural subjects, and the association of smoking or drinking and the precancerous gastric lesions increased in strength with the daily consumption and duration. As the factors such as age, gender, smoking, alcohol were controlled, a multivariable analysis revealed that there was a significant correlation between the deep-fry food intake and the gastric epithelial dysplasia with the odds ratio (OR) of 1.78 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-3.12]. Garlic eating was shown to confer protection against the development of gastric ulcer (OR=0.55, 95% CI: 0.33－0.92).

Conclusion: Smoking and drinking were the risk factors for the precancerous gastric lesions among rural subjects. Deep-fry food intake might be one of the risk factors for the precancerous gastric lesions and garlic eating was shown to confer protection against the development of gastric ulcer among rural Chinese population.