No abstract

The association of breast-cancer survival with various risk factors was investigated using data of 213 breast-cancer patients who underwent surgical operation between 1975 and 1978. They were followed-up until 1987, and a total of 64 deaths including 47 breast-cancer deaths were certified. The 5-year and 10-year relative survival rates were 78.5% and 75.3% respectively. Of the various factors investigated, some anthropometric indicators revealed interesting results; i.e., body weight, Quetelet index, and body surface area at the time of operation turned out to be strong predictors of survival with a statistically significant trend towards lower survival with larger body structure even after adjustment for confounding factors (e.g., clinical stage) using a proportional-hazard model. The estimated survival probability for women with Quetelet index of 20 was about 12% higher than that with Quetelet index of 24 over a 10-year or more follow-up period. Other variables exhibiting prognostic importance were clinical stage, TNM classification, and some histological findings, while height and reproductive life indicators were, as a rule, not significantly related to survival.

Colorectal adenoma is regarded as a precursor lesion of adenocarcinoma. In view of the controversy on serum cholesterol and colorectal cancer, the risk of colorectal adenoma was examined in relation to serum total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-cholesterol. In the comparison of 88 men having adenoma and 1055 men with normal colonoscopy, there was no association between serum total cholesterol and colorectal adenoma. An increased risk of adenoma was observed at the highest quartile of triglycerides and at the lowest of HDL-cholesterol. When the three serum lipids were simultaneously examined, only the relation with HDL-cholesterol remained unchanged giving odds ratio of 1.7 at the lowest quartile compared with the upper three combined (p less than 0.05). The present study is consistent with the view that the inverse relation between serum total cholesterol and colorectal cancer is due to the effects of preclinical cancer. Further clarification is needed on low HDL-cholesterol and colorectal adenoma.

The relationship between the occurrence of breast cancer and dietary intake, in particular a high-fat diet, has attracted much attention in recent years. In addition, the prognosis of breast cancer patients on the basis of dietary intake is also an interesting subject. The present study utilized breast cancer patients whose dietary intake was carefully assessed about one decade previously in a case-control study to determine whether dietary intake was indeed related to the patients' prognosis. The study included 212 patients who underwent a surgical operation between 1975 and 1978. They were followed-up until 1987, and a total of 47 breast cancer deaths were certified. The 5- and 10-year relative survival rates were 78.5% and 75.3%, respectively. The older patients tended to ingest smaller amounts of all nutrients, except animal fat from fish. Height was significantly correlated with total animal protein intake, whereas there was no significant correlation between body mass index and intake of any nutrient. Although the age-adjusted mean values of the nutrient intakes, other than vegetable fat, decreased with advancing stage, the differences were statistically insignificant. The results of multivariate analyses, in which some confounding factors (e.g., clinical stage) were adjusted using a proportional hazards model, showed that all hazards ratios in each nutrient were close to unity, and no dose-response relationship was seen. The present investigation did not provide any support for the hypothesis that a high-fat diet is a survival determinant for breast cancer patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A cross-sectional survey of the entire membership of the Fukuoka Prefecture Medical Association was conducted in 1983 using a self-administered questionnaire. In this investigation the actual prevalence of smoking among physicians and the relationship between their smoking habits and living habits were studied. The study subjects were divided into two groups: those who smoked (1,737 men and 17 women), and those who did not currently smoke (2,267 men and 169 women). It was realized that there were many who were currently non-smokers among women, subjects with a high body mass index, those with heart disease, those without peptic ulcers, those who underwent health check-ups regularly, those accustomed to an early bedtime, those who were not aware of mental stress, those who took regular exercise, those who consumed plenty of fresh vegetables, yellow and green vegetables and fruit, those who did not consume Japanese pickles, coffee or green tea,.and those who drank alcohol only occasionally and only in small amounts.The results of this study suggested the possibility that physicians who were smokers were a group who smoked little and could easily stop smoking. Moreover, non-smoking physicians were found to have a healthier lifestyle than those who smoked. It was considered that, in developing a smoking cessation program for physicians, it is important for them to establish more health-conscious lifestyles.