Assessing the performance of chest x-ray screening in detecting early-stage lung cancer in the general population.

Chest x-ray (CXR) is widely used for lung cancer screening in Japan. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of CXR in detecting early lung cancer and its histological types. We cross-referenced lung cancer municipality screening data with the regional cancer registry database.

Projection of future gastric cancer incidence and health-care service demand by geographic area in Kanagawa, Japan.

Projections of future gastric cancer incidence and the demand for health-care services for gastric cancer patients by geographic area will assist local authorities in determining health-care needs, allocating medical resources, and planning services. This study aims to project the future incidence of gastric cancer, estimate the number of patients per medical institution, and decompose the net changes in cases to assess the impact of population aging by geographic area. Our projections are based on population-based cancer registry data, census data from 2000 to 2020, and the projected population for 2025-2045 in Kanagawa, Japan.

The relationship between loneliness and blood glucose: a cross-sectional survey among Japanese.

Recently, researchers have uncovered a correlation between loneliness and both the development and management of diabetes. Nevertheless, previous studies employing an unvalidated loneliness questionnaire impair result accuracy. Furthermore, this aspect has not been researched in the Japanese population.

Isoflavone and soy food intake and risk of lung cancer in never smokers: report from prospective studies in Japan and China.

Purpose: Evidence from several cohorts has suggested that a higher intake of isoflavone is associated with lower risk of lung cancer in never smokers, but the association has not been investigated by histologic type of lung cancer. Adenocarcinoma is a common histologic type found in never smokers. We hypothesized that a higher intake of isoflavone is associated with a lower risk of lung adenocarcinoma among never smokers.

Associations between superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde and all-cause mortality in older adults: a community-based cohort study.

Background: Oxidative stress is an important theory of aging but population-based evidence has been lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between biomarkers of oxidative stress, including plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA), with all-cause mortality in older adults.

Methods: This is a community-based cohort study of 2224 participants (women:1227, median age: 86 years).

Serum Fatty Acid and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease - Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS).

Background: Few prospective studies have explored the association between fatty acids (FA) and risk of CAD. Understanding of the role of each individual serum FA as a coronary risk or protective factor is still limited. The aim was to investigate which serum FA are associated with the incidence of CAD in Japanese subjects.

Happy older people live longer.

Objective: research on the role of positive affect, such as happiness, on health outcomes is burgeoning. Within this context, evidence for an inverse effect of happiness on mortality is inconclusive. Furthermore, few studies link happiness with mortality among older people, and in Asian populations.

Trajectories of positive aspects of caregiving among family caregivers of stroke-survivors: the differential impact of stroke-survivor disability.

Objective To delineate positive aspects of caregiving trajectories among family caregivers of stroke-survivors and determine the impact of stroke-survivor disability, a time-varying factor, on the delineated trajectories. Methods In a longitudinal study, family caregivers of 173 stroke-survivors in Singapore were administered the Positive Aspects of Caregiving scale (PAC scale) thrice (baseline/3 months/6 months). Group-based trajectory modeling delineated positive aspects of caregiving trajectories and identified the impact of stroke-survivor disability on the trajectories.

Bilingual Text With or Without Pictograms Improves Elderly Singaporeans' Understanding of Prescription Medication Labels.

Background And Objectives: In Singapore, primarily English-language prescription medication labels challenge elderly Singaporeans, many of whom are unable to read English. We investigated whether bilingual text and pictograms can help them understand prescription medication labels.

Research Design And Methods: We randomized 1,414 elderly respondents of a national survey into four prescription medication labels: English-text; English-text-and-pictograms; Bilingual-text; and Bilingual-text-and-pictograms, which were similar except for the addition of another language and/or pictograms (International Pharmaceutical Federation, FIP).

Coffee, tea, caffeine, and risk of hypertension: The Singapore Chinese Health Study.

Purpose: The relationship between coffee and tea, and risk of hypertension remains controversial in Western populations. We investigated these associations in an Asian population.

Methods: The Singapore Chinese Health Study is a population-based prospective cohort that recruited 63,257 Chinese aged 45-74 years and residing in Singapore from 1993 to 1998.

A U-shaped Association Between Blood Pressure and Cognitive Impairment in Chinese Elderly.

Objectives: Higher or lower blood pressure may relate to cognitive impairment, whereas the relationship between blood pressure and cognitive impairment among the elderly is not well-studied. The study objective was to determine whether blood pressure is associated with cognitive impairment in the elderly, and, if so, to accurately describe the association.

Design: Cross-sectional data from the sixth wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted in 2011.

Vitamin D Levels and the Risk of Cognitive Decline in Chinese Elderly People: the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.

Background: Vitamin D has a neuroprotective function, potentially important for the prevention of cognitive decline. Prospective studies from Western countries support an association between lower vitamin D level and future cognitive decline in elderly people. No prospective study has examined this association in Asia.

Serum α-linolenic and other ω-3 fatty acids, and risk of disabling dementia: Community-based nested case-control study.

Background & Aims: It has been hypothesized that ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids have anti-atherosclerotic and neuronal protective functions and may benefit prevention of dementia, but the epidemiological evidence, especially for α-linolenic acid, is quite limited. The aim of this study was to examine whether serum ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are associated with risk of dementia.

Methods: We performed an intracohort case-control study nested in a community-based cohort, the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study, involving 7586 Japanese individuals aged 40-74 years at the baseline period of 1984-1994.

The relationship between sodium concentrations in spot urine and blood pressure increases: a prospective study of Japanese general population: the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS).

Background: Although several cross-sectional and intervention studies showed that sodium intake or excretion was associated with blood pressure levels, no prospective study has examined the long-term association between sodium excretion in spot urine and blood pressure changes.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 889 normotensive subjects (295 men and 594 women, mean age 57.3 years) who underwent the baseline survey including spot urine test in 2005 and the follow-up survey in 2009 to 2011 (mean follow-up period: 5.

Short-Term Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Stroke Survivors and Their Family Caregivers.

Goal: We utilize group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) to delineate depressive symptom trajectories among stroke survivor-caregiver dyads, to identify predictors of the delineated trajectories, and to assess the influence of time-varying covariates (stroke survivor depressive symptoms and functional disability, caregiver depressive symptoms, and foreign domestic worker [FDW] assistance) on the level of the depressive symptom trajectories.

Methods: Data on 172 stroke survivor-caregiver dyads in Singapore, for whom depressive symptoms were assessed thrice (baseline/3 months/6 months), were utilized. GBTM was applied to delineate depressive symptom trajectories, and to identify their predictors and time-varying covariates.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Atrial Fibrillation in Chinese Elderly: Results from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.

Background: Prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing as the world ages. AF is associated with higher risk of mortality and disease, including stroke, hypertension, heart failure, and dementia. Prevalence of AF differs with each population studied, and research on non-Western populations and the oldest old is scarce.

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was inversely associated with 3-year all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old: data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey.

Objective: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a risk factor for survival in middle-aged individuals, but conflicting evidence exists on the relationship between LDL-C and all-cause mortality among the elderly. The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between LDL-C and all-cause mortality among Chinese oldest old (aged 80 and older) in a prospective cohort study.

Methods: LDL-C concentration was measured at baseline and all-cause mortality was calculated over a 3-year period.

Serum coenzyme Q10 and risk of disabling dementia: the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS).

Objective: To examine whether coenzyme Q10, a potent antioxidant, is associated with risk of dementia, which has not yet been elucidated.

Approach And Results: We performed a case-control study nested in a community-based cohort of approximately 6000 Japanese aged 40-69 years at baseline (1984-1994). Serum coenzyme Q10 was measured in 65 incident cases of disabling dementia with dementia-related behavioral disturbance or cognitive impairment incident between 1999 and 2004, and in 130 age-, sex- and baseline year-matched controls.

Vitamin D levels and cognition in elderly adults in China.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between vitamin D level and cognitive impairment in individuals aged 60 and older.

Design: Cross-sectional cohort study.

Setting: Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, a community-based cohort study in areas in China where the density of centenarians is exceptionally high.

C-reactive protein levels and risk of disabling dementia with and without stroke in Japanese: the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS).

Objective: Studies have shown that elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) predicts stroke, which is a risk factor for dementia. It remains, however, unclear whether hs-CRP increases risk of dementia.

Methods: A prospective nested case-control study of Japanese 40-69 years of age was conducted using frozen serum samples collected from approximately 7531men and women who participated in cardiovascular risk surveys from 1984 to 1994 in one community and 1989-1995 in another community under the Circulatory Risk in Communities Study (CIRCS).

Presence of and correction for interviewer error on an instrument assessing cognitive function of older adults.

Aim: To determine the extent of interviewer error on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), the association between interviewer-level variables and SPMSQ score, compare the prevalence of SPMSQ cognitive status categories before and after correction for interviewer error, and identify SPMSQ items prone to interviewer error.

Methods: Data of 4542 older adults from a national survey in Singapore were utilized. Multilevel models, which adjusted for respondent-level variables known to be associated with cognitive status, were utilized to determine the intraclass correlation on the SPMSQ, association of interviewer-level variables (age, ethnicity, education and number of interviews carried out) with SPMSQ and identify SPMSQ items prone to interviewer error.

Older person behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPS) and functional limitations mediate the association between older person cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms in the caregiver.

We assess for the mediation of the association between older person cognitive impairment and caregiver depressive symptoms through older person BPS and functional limitations, and whether the mediation varies by caregiver-older person relationship (spouse/adult child). Data for 1111 older person (aged 75+ with activity of daily living (ADL) limitation)-caregiver dyads from Singapore were used. The outcome variable was dichotomous (caregiver clinically significant depressive symptoms [CSDS]: yes/no) in the primary analysis and continuous (caregiver depressive symptoms score) in the sensitivity analysis.

Total and high molecular weight adiponectin levels and risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals with high blood glucose levels.

Objective: The association of adiponectin levels with cardiovascular disease (CVD) may vary by age and health condition. It is unknown whether adiponectin predicts CVD events among individuals with high blood glucose levels.

Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study among 15,566 men and women aged 40-85 years from four communities, who were free of CVD at baseline.