Serum pepsinogen II is a better diagnostic marker in gastric cancer

Table 1 Comparison of Helicobacter pylori infection between gastric cancer and control groups

	Gastric cancer group (%)	Gastric atrophy group (%)	Control group (%)	P value
No.	450	111	961
H. pylori infection
Negative	139 (30.9)	27 (24.3)	483 (50.3)
Positive	311 (69.1)	84 (75.7)	478 (49.7)	< 0.001
Sex
Male	324 (72.0)	66 (59.5)	564 (58.7)	< 0.001
Female	126 (28.0)	45 (40.5)	397 (41.3)
Age
< 45 yr	38 (8.4)	20 (18.0)	285 (29.7)	< 0.001
45-65 yr	240 (53.3)	81 (73.0)	607 (63.2)
> 65 yr	172 (38.2)	10 (9.0)	69 (7.2)

H. pylori: Helicobacter pylori.

Table 2 Comparison of pepsinogen levels between gastric cancer, gastric atrophy and control groups

	Gastric cancer group	Gastric atrophy group	Control group	P value (cancer vs control)	P value (atrophy vs control)
PGI(μg/L)	93.2 (49.8-147.3)	64.0 (52.3-75.3)	92.6 (75.0-116.1)	0.537	< 0.001
PG II (μg/L)	15.9 (9.0-28.0)	13.9 (11.9-16.9)	11.5 (7.1-18.4)	< 0.001	< 0.001
PGI/PGII	5.4 (3.5-8.1)	4.6 (3.6-5.3)	8.4 (6.1-11.1)	< 0.001	< 0.001

Data are expressed as median (interquartile range). PG: Pepsinogen.

Table 3 Helicobacter pylori infection and pepsinogen levels of serum in gastric cancer patients

	H. pylori (+) (n = 311)	H. pylori (-) (n = 139)	P value
PGI(μg/L)	92.2 (53.0-145.3)	94.4 (38.9-148.8)	0.96
PG II (μg/L)	18.4 (10.4-30.0)	13.3 (7.7-22.5)	0.01
PGI/PGII	5.1 (3.5-7.2)	6.2 (3.5-10.0)	0.01

Data are expressed as median (interquartile range). PG: Pepsinogen; H. pylori: Helicobacter pylori.

Table 4 Gastric cancer stages and serum pepsinogen levels

TNM stage (n)	PGI(μg/L)	PG II (μg/L)	PGI/PG II
I(64)	101.4 (76.3-147.3)	18.4 (12.1-27.2)	6.3 (4.5-8.4)
II(182)	96.3 (44.7-167.2)	16.3 (9.3-27.1)	5.5 (4.0-8.2)
III (145)	85.8 (43.4-133.3)	15.4 (8.8-28.7)	4.9 (2.8-7.5)
IV (59)	71.5 (35.7-137.0)	13.1 (6.7-13.1)	5.1 (3.1-8.1)
P value	0.02	0.44	0.09

PG: Pepsinogen; TNM: Tumor-node-metastasis.