Carbon and Emery Counties contain the only coal mining regions in Utah. T h e age-and sex-adjusted incidence of gastric cancer in these 2 counties is 4 times that of the State of Utah. A detailed study of the patients with stomach cancer in the coal mining region revealed that 59% of male patients in Carbon and Emery Counties were coal miners. T h e gastric cancer incidence in coal miners was at least 3 times that of non-coal miners living in counties with coal mining and at least 8 times that of males in counties with no coal mining. T h e increased risk for females in these 2 counties was not statistically significant, but the increased risk in males was highly significant compared to other Utah males. All homes of patients afflicted with gastric cancer in both Carbon a n d Emery Counties were heated with coal, and, in some of the homes, coal was used for cooking. I t is concluded that coal mining in this area might be an etiologic factor and, to a lesser degree, the extensive use of soft coal.
HERE IS EVIDENCE THAT THE INCIDENCE OF
T gastric carcinoma is high in certain geographic areas.618 The investigations of Bres-low3 and Haenszels concerning gastric cancer have disclosed a high incidence of gastric malignancy in certain geographic and ethnic populations in Japan, Finland, and Iceland, and they attributed this increase to dietary effects. In 1970, Dixon et al.,6 in their analysis of gastric carcinoma cases in Utah, noted a high incidence of the disease in Carbon County, a soft coal mining region. This high incidence of cancer of the stomach in the population of Carbon County is intriguing, since review of the literature revealed no reports on association of gastric cancer with coal mining. Carbon and Emery Counties