Purpose: The association of physical activity with the risk of bladder cancer remains inconsistent among Asian populations. We aimed to examine the association in a large Japanese cohort. Materials and Methods: In a population-based prospective cohort study, a total of 50,374 Japanese adults aged 40-79 years without a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease who had information on physical activity from self-administrated questionnaires were used for analysis. We performed Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for incident bladder cancer after adjusting for several potential confounders. Results: During the median 17.5 years of follow-up, 153 incident bladder cancers (116 men and 37 women) were identified. After the multivariable adjustment, HRs (95% CI) of bladder cancer concerning those with recreational sports participation of 1-2 hr/wk, 3-4 hr/wk, and 5 hr/wk and more were 0.67 (0.38-1.20), 0.79 (0.36-1.74), and 0.28 (0.09-0.89), respectively (p for trend=0.017). Compared with mostly sitting at the workplace, occupational physical activity of standing and walking were associated with a lower risk of bladder cancer (HR, 0.53 [95% CI, 0.32 to 0.85]). Hours of daily walking were not associated with the risk. The lower risk of bladder cancer was more evident for recreational sports (HR, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.10 to 1.00]), and for occupational standing and walking activity at work (HR, 0.57 [95% CI, 0.33 to 0.98]) among men. Conclusion Recreational sports participation and occupational physical activity were inversely associated with the risk of bladder cancer among Japanese, especially in men.

Purpose: Sedentary behavior attributes to the increased risk of some cancers and all-cause mortality. The evidence is limited for the association between television (TV) viewing time, a major sedentary behavior, and risk of colorectal cancer death. We aimed to examine this association in Japanese population. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort study encompassed of 90,834 men and women aged 40-79 years with no prior history of colorectal cancer who completed a self-administered food frequency questionnaire, and provided their TV viewing information. The participants were followed-up from 1988-1990 to the end of 2009. The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by the Cox proportional hazard regression for risk of colorectal cancer mortality according to TV viewing time. Results: During the median 19.1-year follow-up period, we documented 749 (385 men and 364 women) colorectal cancer deaths. The multivariable-adjusted HRs for mortality from colorectal cancer were 1.11 (0.88-1.41) for 1.5 to < 3 hr/day, 1.14 (0.91-1.42) for 3 to < 4.5 hr/day and 1.33 (1.02-1.73) for ≥ 4.5 hr/day in comparison to < 1.5 hr/day TV watching; p-trend=0.038, and that for 1-hour increment in TV viewing time was 1.06 (1.01-1.11). Moreover, the multivariable-adjusted HR (95%CI) of colon cancer for 1-hour increment in TV viewing time was 1.07 (1.02-1.13). Age, body mass index, and level of leisure-physical activity did not show significant effect modifications on the observed associations. Conclusion TV viewing time is associated with the increased risk of colorectal cancer mortality among Japanese population, more specifically colon rather than rectal cancer.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and a major contributor to disability worldwide. Since the majority of cardiovascular events are preventable, identification of modifiable CVD risk factors and implementation of primordial prevention strategies should be a public health priority. In this aspect, the American Heart Association declared a strategic goal to reduce total CVD mortality in the US by 20% within 10 years via eliminating 7 major CVD risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, and poor-quality diet) in 2010, and their strategy has been achieving. However, the applicability of similar metrics to prevent CVD among East Asians requires an in-depth investigation of the modifiable CVD risk factors based on national and regional evidence-based findings. Herein, this review article aims to discuss several modifiable risk factors for CVDs, using epidemiological evidence from cohort studies and nationally representative data of 2 East Asian countries: Korea and Japan.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and a major contributor to disability worldwide. Since the majority of cardiovascular events are preventable, identification of modifiable CVD risk factors and implementation of primordial prevention strategies should be a public health priority. In this aspect, the American Heart Association declared a strategic goal to reduce total CVD mortality in the US by 20% within 10 years via eliminating 7 major CVD risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, and poor-quality diet) in 2010, and their strategy has been achieving. However, the applicability of similar metrics to prevent CVD among East Asians requires an in-depth investigation of the modifiable CVD risk factors based on national and regional evidence-based findings. Herein, this review article aims to discuss several modifiable risk factors for CVDs, using epidemiological evidence from cohort studies and nationally representative data of 2 East Asian countries: Korea and Japan.

Purpose: Sedentary behavior attributes to the increased risk of some cancers and all-cause mortality. The evidence is limited for the association between television (TV) viewing time, a major sedentary behavior, and risk of colorectal cancer death. We aimed to examine this association in Japanese population. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort study encompassed of 90,834 men and women aged 40-79 years with no prior history of colorectal cancer who completed a self-administered food frequency questionnaire, and provided their TV viewing information. The participants were followed-up from 1988-1990 to the end of 2009. The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated by the Cox proportional hazard regression for risk of colorectal cancer mortality according to TV viewing time. Results: During the median 19.1-year follow-up period, we documented 749 (385 men and 364 women) colorectal cancer deaths. The multivariable-adjusted HRs for mortality from colorectal cancer were 1.11 (0.88-1.41) for 1.5 to < 3 hr/day, 1.14 (0.91-1.42) for 3 to < 4.5 hr/day and 1.33 (1.02-1.73) for ≥ 4.5 hr/day in comparison to < 1.5 hr/day TV watching; p-trend=0.038, and that for 1-hour increment in TV viewing time was 1.06 (1.01-1.11). Moreover, the multivariable-adjusted HR (95%CI) of colon cancer for 1-hour increment in TV viewing time was 1.07 (1.02-1.13). Age, body mass index, and level of leisure-physical activity did not show significant effect modifications on the observed associations. Conclusion TV viewing time is associated with the increased risk of colorectal cancer mortality among Japanese population, more specifically colon rather than rectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Sex- and age-specific impacts of cardiovascular risk factors on the development of dementia have not been well evaluated. We investigated these impacts of smoking, overweight/obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus on the risk of disabling dementia. METHODS: The study participants were 25,029 (10,134 men and 14,895 women) Japanese aged 40-74 years without disabling dementia at baseline (2008-2013). They were assessed on smoking status (non-current or current), overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥25 kg/m² and ≥30 kg/m², respectively), hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg or any antihypertensive medication use), and diabetes mellitus (a fasting serum glucose ≥126 mg/dL, non-fasting glucose ≥200 mg/dL, hemoglobin A1c ≥6.5% by the National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program or glucose-lowering medication use) at baseline. Disabling dementia was identified as the level of care required ≥1 and cognitive disability grade ≥IIa according to the National Long-term Care Insurance Database. We used a Cox proportional regression model to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of disabling dementia according to the cardiovascular risk factors and calculated the population attributable fractions (PAFs). RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 9.1 years, 1,322 (606 men and 716 women) developed disabling dementia. Current smoking and hypertension were associated with a higher risk of disabling dementia in both sexes, whereas overweight or obesity was not associated with the risk in either sex. Diabetes mellitus was associated with a higher risk only in women (p for sex interaction = 0.04). The significant PAFs were 13% for smoking and 14% for hypertension in men and 3% for smoking, 12% for hypertension, and 5% for diabetes mellitus in women. The total PAFs of the significant risk factors were 28% in men and 20% in women. When stratified by age, hypertension in midlife (40-64 years) was associated with the increased risk in men, while diabetes mellitus in later-life (65-74 years) was so in women. CONCLUSIONS A substantial burden of disabling dementia was attributable to smoking, and hypertension in both sexes and diabetes mellitus in women, which may require the management of these cardiovascular risk factors to prevent dementia.
Male ; Humans ; Female ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Overweight/complications* ; East Asian People ; Cardiovascular Diseases/epidemiology* ; Hypertension/etiology* ; Diabetes Mellitus/etiology* ; Obesity/etiology* ; Smoking/epidemiology* ; Risk Factors ; Age Factors ; Dementia/etiology*