Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41462451›Full record

ArticleBMC cancer2025

Quantifying the effects of the Correa pathway from Helicobacter pylori infection to gastric cancer: causal inference found in 6.8 million Koreans.

Hyun Jin Oh, Chung Ho Kim, Hyun-Wook Park, Bomi Park

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Association ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Hyun Jin OhDivision of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Cancer Prevention and Detection, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Republic of Korea.
Chung Ho KimDepartment of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
Hyun-Wook ParkDepartment of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea.
Bomi ParkDepartment of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-Ro, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea. bpark@cau.ac.kr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5834-9975

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe Correa pathway describes the sequential progression of gastric cancer through Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, chronic gastritis, atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia, adenoma, and gastric cancer. Clarifying the causal relationships along this pathway can provide robust evidence for targeted gastric cancer preventive strategies.

methodsThis study was conducted using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service, including 6,863,103 individuals who participated in the National Cancer Screening Program for gastric cancer in 2018, with a 2-year follow-up. We used doubly robust targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) to quantify the total effect of H. pylori eradication on incident gastric cancer and applied causal mediation analysis (CMA) to evaluate indirect pathways through atrophic gastritis/intestinal metaplasia and adenoma. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, income, smoking, alcohol use, and family history of gastric cancer.

resultsTMLE revealed that H. pylori infection significantly increased gastric cancer risk (relative risk [RR] = 6.40; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.05–6.77), as well as the risk of atrophic gastritis/intestinal metaplasia (RR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.35–1.43) and adenoma (RR = 5.81; 95% CI: 5.68–5.94). atrophic gastritis/intestinal metaplasia substantially elevated the risk of adenoma (RR = 1.72; 95% CI: 1.67–1.77) and gastric cancer (RR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.28–1.44). CMA showed that 3% of the H. pylori effect on gastric cancer was mediated through atrophic gastritis/intestinal metaplasia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.03, 95% CI: 1.02–1.04), and 36% was mediated via adenoma (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.94–2.01). Among individuals with atrophic gastritis/intestinal metaplasia, adenoma accounted for 44% of the subsequent gastric cancer risk (OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.03–1.34).

conclusionsOur findings demonstrate that H. pylori infection is the most important causal determinant of gastric cancer and adenoma, indicating that prevention of H. pylori is central to gastric cancer prevention.

Indexed as

AdenomaHelicobacter InfectionsHelicobacter pyloriStomach NeoplasmsAdultAgedEast Asian PeopleFemaleGastritisGastritis, AtrophicHumansMaleMetaplasiaMiddle AgedRepublic of KoreaRisk FactorsAdenomaAtrophicGastritisMetaplasiaPrecancerous ConditionsStomach neoplasms

Identifiers

PMID41462451
PMCPMC12870006

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.