AIM:To examine how the introduction of endoscopy to gastric cancer screening affected survival prognosis in a regional population. METHODS: The subjects comprised 4261 residents of Kamigoto,Nagasaki Prefecture,who underwent gastric X-ray examination for gastric cancer screening from 1991 to 1995,and all 7178 residents who underwent endoscopic examination for the same purpose from 1996 to 2003. The analysis evaluated trends in age-adjusted gastric cancer mortality rates and standard mortality ratios (SMRs) among the Kamigoto residents. RESULTS: According to demographic statistics,the 1995 and 2000 age-adjusted gastric cancer mortality rates in Nagasaki Prefecture (per 100 000 population) were 42.6 and 37.3 for males and 18.6 and 16.0 for females,while the corresponding rates in Kamigoto before and after the introduction of endoscopic screening were respectively 51.9 and 28.0,and 26.6 and 6.9. The data obtained in this study were divided into those for two periods,1990-1996 and 1997-2006,and SMRs were calculated separately for males and females. For the first period,the SMR was 1.04 (95% CI 0.50-1.58) for males and 1.54 (95% CI 0.71-2.38) for females,while for the second period the SMR was 0.71 (95% CI 0.33-1.10) for males and 0.62 (95% CI 0.19-1.05) for females. CONCLUSION: Following the introduction of endoscopic examination,gastric cancer death rates decreased in Kamigoto. AIM: To examine how the introduction of endoscopy to gastric cancer screening affected survival prognosis in a regional population. METHODS: The subjects comprised 4261 residents of Kamigoto, Nagasaki Prefecture, who underwent gastric X-ray examination for gastric cancer screening from 1991 to 1995, and all 7178 residents who underwent endoscopic examination for the same purpose from 1996 to 2003. The analysis evaluated trends in age-adjusted gastric cancer mortality rates and standard mortality ratios (SMRs) among the Kamigoto residents. RESULTS: According to demographic statistics, the 1995 and 2000 age-adjusted gastric cancer mortality rates in Nagasaki Prefecture (per 100 000 population) were 42.6 and 37.3 for males and 18.6 and 16.0 for females, while the corresponding rates in Kamigoto before and after the introduction of endoscopic screening were respectively 51.9 and 28.0 , and 26.6 and 6.9. The data obtained in this study were divided into those for two periods, 1990-1996 and 1997-2006 , and SMRs were calculated separately for males and females. For the first period, the SMR was 1.04 (95% CI 0.50-1.58) for males and 1.54 (95% CI 0.71-2.38) for females while for the second period the SMR was 0.71 (95% CI 0.33-1.10) for males and 0.62 (95% CI 0.19-1.05) for females. CONCLUSION: Following the introduction of endoscopic examination, gastric cancer death rates decreased in Kamigoto.