Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM: To explore the significance of genetic and environmental risk factors for ethnic esophageal cancer in Huaian. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A community_based pair_matching case_control study was performed. 97 patients with newly diagnosed, untreated ESCC and 97 healthy controls matched in age, sex, origin and residence were surveyed by questionnaire in the study. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk of genetic and environmental factors for esophageal cancer. RESULTS: The conditional logistic regression analysis showed that the increased risk for esophageal cancer was significantly associated with a family history of gastrointestinal tumor(OR=4.203), environmental pollution around the residential area(OR=2.202), irregular meals(OR=1.988), and history of drinking non_tap water(OR=2.024). The protective factors of esophageal cancer included intake of eggs(OR=0.633) and tea_consumption (OR=0.669). Population attributable risk (PAR) of each factor was 12.9％ with environmental pollution around the residential area, 34.4％ with irregular meals, 25.0％ with lack of intake of eggs, 42.7％ with lack of tea_consumption, 21.4％ with history of drinking non_tap water, and 30.6％ with family history of gastrointestinal tumor. The combined PAR of the six factors was 86.6％. CONCLUSION: Genetic susceptibility factors play an important role in the high incidence of esophageal cancer in Huaian county. The influence of genetic factors should be considered in the surveillance and comprehensive prevention of esophageal cancer in Huaian.

Key words: esophageal cancer, case_control study, risk factors, attributable risk