Thiruvananthapuram: Smoking 'beedis' is a causative factor for gastric cancer apart from that of lungs and the oral cavity, a study carried out in a Kerala district town said.

The study, done in Karunagappally in the Kollam coastal district on 65,553 men aged 30-84 in the 1990-2009 period found that gastric cancer risk increased with the number of 'beedis' smoked.