Table 2.

Incident colorectal cancer in relation to atrophic gastritis

	Normal serum pepsinogen1 level (≥ 25 µg/l) n = 19,263	Low serum pepsinogen1 level (< 25 µg/l) n = 1,665	Histologically confirmed atrophic gastritis n = 1,006
Number of colorectal cancers diagnosed	399	26	21
Mean duration of follow-up, years (range) Person-years of follow- up	11.35 (0 – 17.26) 218,668	10.57 (0.08 – 17.26) 17,590	11.44 (0.54– 17.26) 11,510
Incidence rate / 1,000 person-years of follow- up	1.82	1.48	1.82
Incidence rate ratio (95% CI)	Reference	0.81 (0.52 – 1.20)	1.00 (0.61 – 1.55)
Univariate model, HR (95% CI)	Reference	0.82 (0.55 – 1.23)	1.00 (0.65 – 1.55)
Age-adjusted model, HR (95% CI)	Reference	0.70 (0.47 – 1.05)	0.86 (0.55 – 1.33)
Multivariate model 1, HR (95% CI)*	Reference	0.71 (0.47 – 1.05)	0.86 (0.55 – 1.34)
Multivariate model 2, HR (95% CI)‡	Reference	0.81 (0.52 – 1.25)	0.98 (0.61 –1.58)

^*Model 1 = Parsimonious model with only true confounders (age, years of smoking and total cigarettes smoked/day)

^‡Model 2 = Extended model with randomization assignment in the ATBC trial and a priori factors that have been suggested in the literature to be risk factors for colorectal cancer (age, body mass index, alcohol intake, cigarettes smoking, family history of colorectal cancer, education, consumption of red meat, and physical activities)