Objective To investigate the effects of American Society Anesthesiology Physical Status (ASA‑PS) classification on the hazards of long‑term all‑cause mortality for gastric cancer patients. Methods Gastric cancer patients who underwent radical resection or partial resection in the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January 2010 to May 2011 were selected and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. A Kaplan‑Meier survival curve and a multiple Cox proportional regression model were used to analyze the association between ASA‑PS classification and long‑term all‑cause mortality in gastric cancer patients. Results A total of 829 patients were included in this study while 190 patients were excluded. The median (interquartile range) follow‑up time was 50 (23‒71) months. There were 193 cases (23.3%), 510 cases (61.5%) and 126 cases (15.2%) at ASA‑PS Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅲ/Ⅳ grades, respectively. Their five‑year overall survival (OS) was 59.0%, 45.3% and 37.0%, which significantly decreased (P<0.01). In the multivariable Cox regression model, compared with patients in the ASA‑PS Ⅰ grade, the hazards of long‑term all‑cause mortality significantly increased by 29% in the ASA‑PS Ⅱ grade [95% confidenceinterval (CI) 1%‒70%, P=0.045] and significantly increased by 46% in the ASA‑PS Ⅲ/Ⅳ grade (95%CI 6%‒102%, P=0.022). Conclusions ASA‑PS classification is an independent risk factor influencing the hazards of long‑term all‑cause mortality in gastric cancer patients after surgery.