Truth telling for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Henan, China

OBJECTIVE

: This study aims to investigate the truth-telling status and the relevant factors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients in Henan, China.

METHODS

: A cross-sectional study from April to June 2015 using questionnaires was given to 301 family members of hospitalized ESCC patients based in three affiliated hospitals of Zhengzhou University (i.e., The First Hospital, The Second Hospital, and Tumor Hospital) and Anyang Tumor Hospital.

RESULTS

: Among the 41.9% (126/301) hospitalized ESCC patients who knew of their true diagnoses, only 4.0% patients were informed by their corresponding responsible doctors, 39.7% by their family members, and 56.3% by themselves. Univariate analyses showed that disclosure of confirmed ESCC diagnosis to patients was correlated with gender, family history of cancer (FHC), education level, vocation, hospital administrative level, and attitudes of family members (P < 0.05). Furthermore, multivariate analysis indicated that attitude of family members was the most important and an independent factor for diagnosis disclosure. Those patients with a negative FHC, under-education, manual occupation, advanced stages, and hospitalized in municipal hospitals exhibited a low rate of truth telling.

CONCLUSIONS

: Truth telling for ESCC patients in Henan is not prevalent and may be improved through consultation with family members, particularly for patients with a negative FHC, poor education, manual occupation, and advanced stages.

Association of genotypes of rs671 withinALDH2 with risk for gastric cardia adenocarcinoma in the Chinese Han population in high- and low-incidence areas

OBJECTIVE

: This study aimed to determine if gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) risk was associated with the lys (A or *2) allele at the rs671 (glu504lys) polymorphism within the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene in a Chinese Han population. We also aimed to investigateALDH2 genotypic distributions between subjects from high- and low-incidence areas for both GCA and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

METHODS

: We designed a case-control study including 2,686 patients with GCA and 3,675 control subjects from high- and low-incidence areas for both GCA and ESCC in China. TaqMan allele discrimination assay was used to genotype the rs671 polymorphism.χ² test and binary logistic regression analysis were used to estimate the odds ratios for the development of GCA, and multivariate ordinal logistic regression was used to analyzeALDH2 genotypic distributions among different groups.

RESULTS

: Compared withALDH2*1/*1 homozygotes,ALDH2*1/*2 andALDH2*2/*2 carriers did not increase the risk for GCA in the Chinese Han population (P>0.05). Interestingly, the ratio of homozygous or heterozygousALDH2 *2 carriers in high-incidence areas for both GCA and ESCC was lower than that in low-incidence areas (P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

: Genotypes of rs671 atALDH2 may not increase GCA susceptibility in Chinese Han populations. In addition, theALDH2 genotypic distribution differs between Chinese Han populations from high- and low-incidence areas for both GCA and ESCC. Our findings may shed light on the possible genetic mechanism for the dramatic geographic differences of GCA occurrence in China.