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BackgroundJapan has entered the era of super-ageing and advanced health transition, which is increasingly putting pressure on the sustainability of its health system. The level and pace of this health transition might vary across regions within Japan and concern is growing about increasing regional variations in disease burden. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive, comparable framework. We used data from GBD 2015 with the aim to quantify the burden of disease and injuries, and to attribute risk factors in Japan at a subnational, prefecture-level.MethodsWe used data from GBD 2015 for 315 causes and 79 risk factors of death, disease, and injury incidence and prevalence to measure the burden of diseases and injuries in Japan and in the 47 Japanese prefectures from 1990 to 2015. We extracted data from GBD 2015 to assess mortality, causes of death, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), life expectancy, and healthy life expectancy (HALE) in Japan and its 47 prefectures. We split extracted data by prefecture and applied GBD methods to generate estimates of burden, and attributable burden due to known risk factors. We examined the prefecture-level relationships of common health system inputs (eg, health expenditure and workforces) to the GBD outputs in 2015 to address underlying determinants of regional health variations.FindingsLife expectancy at birth in Japan increased by 4·2 years from 79·0 years (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 79·0 to 79·0) to 83·2 years (83·1 to 83·2) between 1990 and 2015. However, the gaps between prefectures with the lowest and highest life expectancies and HALE have widened, from 2·5 to 3·1 years and from 2·3 to 2·7 years, respectively, from 1990 to 2015. Although overall age-standardised death rates decreased by 29·0% (28·7 to 29·3) from 1990 to 2015, the rates of mortality decline in this period substantially varied across the prefectures, ranging from -32·4% (-34·8 to -30·0) to -22·0% (-20·4 to -20·1). During the same time period, the rate of age-standardised DALYs was reduced overall by 19·8% (17·9 to 22·0). The reduction in rates of age-standardised YLDs was very small by 3·5% (2·6 to 4·3). The pace of reduction in mortality and DALYs in many leading causes has largely levelled off since 2005. Known risk factors accounted for 34·5% (32·4 to 36·9) of DALYs; the two leading behavioural risk factors were unhealthy diets and tobacco smoking in 2015. The common health system inputs were not associated with age-standardised death and DALY rates in 2015.InterpretationJapan has been successful overall in reducing mortality and disability from most major diseases. However, progress has slowed down and health variations between prefectures is growing. In view of the limited association between the prefecture-level health system inputs and health outcomes, the potential sources of regional variations, including subnational health system performance, urgently need assessment.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Japan Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, AXA CR Fixed Income Fund and AXA Research Fund.

Background: Cervical cancer presents a considerable challenge in South Asia, notably in Nepal, where screening remains limited. Past research in Nepal lacked national representation and a thorough exploration of factors influencing cervical cancer screening, such as educational and socioeconomic disparities. This study aims to measure these gaps and identify associated factors in testing for early detection of cervical cancer among Nepalese women. Methods: Data from the 2019 Nepal Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factors survey (World Health Organization STEPwise approach to noncommunicable risk factor surveillance), involving 2,332 women aged 30 to 69 years, were used. Respondents were asked if they had undergone cervical cancer testing through visual inspection with acetic acid, Pap smear, or human papillomavirus test ever or in the past 5 years. The slope index of inequality (SII) and relative concentration index were used to measure socioeconomic and education-based disparities in cervical cancer test uptake. Results: Only 7.1% [95% confidence interval (CI): 5.1-9.9] Nepalese women had ever undergone cervical cancer testing, whereas 5.1% (95% CI: 3.4-7.5) tested within the last 5 years. The ever uptake of cervical cancer testing was 5.1 percentage points higher (SII: 5.1, 95% CI: -0.1 to 10.2) among women from the richest compared with the poorest households. Education-based disparities were particularly pronounced, with a 13.9 percentage point difference between highly educated urban residents and their uneducated counterparts (SII: 13.9, 95% CI: 5.8-21.9). Conclusions: Less than one in ten women in Nepal had a cervical cancer testing, primarily favoring higher educated and wealthier individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Epidemiological studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the link between smoking and breast cancer risk, despite the biological plausibility of a positive association. Methods Participants were 166 611 women from nine prospective cohort studies in Japan which launched in 1984–1994 and followed for 8–22 years. Information on smoking and secondhand smoke was obtained through self-administered baseline questionnaires. Breast cancer was defined as code C50 according to the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, 3rd Edition or the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. After adjusting for several potential confounders, relative risks for breast cancer were calculated in the individual studies according to the current or previous status of active and passive smoking using Cox regression, followed by a summary estimate of hazard ratios using random-effects meta-analyses. Results Of the 60 441 participants who reported being premenopausal and 106 170 who reported being postmenopausal at baseline, 897 and 1168 developed breast cancer during follow-up, respectively. Compared with never smokers, current smokers had a higher risk of developing breast cancer before the age of 50 years. In addition, ever smokers who started smoking at 30 years of age or younger, or who started smoking before first childbirth, had a higher risk of developing breast cancer before the age of 50 years. No association between adulthood or childhood exposure to secondhand smoke and breast cancer was observed. Conclusion Smoking may increase the risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and smoking earlier in life might be especially harmful. The impact of secondhand smoke needs further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was performed to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and gastric cancer in East and Southeast Asia where most of gastric cancer is non-cardia gastric cancer. Methods: On the basis of 8,997 gastric cancer cases among the Asia Cohort Consortium participants from China, Japan, Korea, and Singapore (N = 538,835), we assessed gastric cancer risk according to BMI by calculating hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: A U-shaped associations between BMI and gastric cancer risk were observed. Gastric cancer risks in underweight group (<18.5 kg/m2) and in obesity group (=27.5 kg/m2) were higher than reference BMI group (23-24.9 kg/m2; HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05-1.25 for underweight; HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.03-1.22 for obesity, respectively). The associations of underweight and obesity with gastric cancer risk were consistent in the analyses for non-cardia gastric cancer, intestinal-type gastric cancer, and late-onset gastric cancer. No significant association of underweight and obesity with the risk of cardia gastric cancer, diffuse-type gastric cancer, and early-onset gastric cancer was observed. In addition, we found that the U-shaped association between BMI and gastric cancer risk remained in nonsmokers, while only underweight was related to increased gastric cancer risk in smokers. Conclusions: BMI has a U-shaped association with gastric cancer risk in East and Southeast Asian population, especially for the non-cardia gastric cancer, intestinal-type gastric cancer, and late-onset gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:The influence of body mass index (BMI) change during adulthood on the development of oesophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unknown.Methods:Based on the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study, we enrolled 103 238 participants from 1990 to 1994. Anthropometric data at age 20 years, baseline, and 5- and/or 10-year follow-up surveys were collected by questionnaire. The effect of BMI change between age 20 years and baseline on ESCC risk was estimated by Cox proportional hazards regression models. The updated BMI was taken into account by fitting a simple linear regression model for each individual, where the slope was incorporated into regressions as a time-varying variable.Results:After excluding the first 5 years of observation, we identified 342 newly diagnosed ESCC cases. An increase in BMI during adulthood was linked with a decreased risk of ESCC development, with each 1% increase per 5 years corresponding to a 15% decrease in ESCC risk (95% confidence interval 9-21%). Identical estimates were obtained from time-dependent models. The importance of BMI change was not modified by gender, smoking, or alcohol drinking but confined to participants assessed as non-overweight at baseline.Conclusions:An increase in BMI during adulthood is associated with a lower risk of developing ESCC among non-overweight subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Japan has entered the era of super-ageing and advanced health transition, which is increasingly putting pressure on the sustainability of its health system. The level and pace of this health transition might vary across regions within Japan and concern is growing about increasing regional variations in disease burden. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive, comparable framework. We used data from GBD 2015 with the aim to quantify the burden of disease and injuries, and to attribute risk factors in Japan at a subnational, prefecture-level.Methods: We used data from GBD 2015 for 315 causes and 79 risk factors of death, disease, and injury incidence and prevalence to measure the burden of diseases and injuries in Japan and in the 47 Japanese prefectures from 1990 to 2015. We extracted data from GBD 2015 to assess mortality, causes of death, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), life expectancy, and healthy life expectancy (HALE) in Japan and its 47 prefectures. We split extracted data by prefecture and applied GBD methods to generate estimates of burden, and attributable burden due to known risk factors. We examined the prefecture-level relationships of common health system inputs (eg, health expenditure and workforces) to the GBD outputs in 2015 to address underlying determinants of regional health variations.Findings: Life expectancy at birth in Japan increased by 4·2 years from 79·0 years (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 79·0 to 79·0) to 83·2 years (83·1 to 83·2) between 1990 and 2015. However, the gaps between prefectures with the lowest and highest life expectancies and HALE have widened, from 2·5 to 3·1 years and from 2·3 to 2·7 years, respectively, from 1990 to 2015. Although overall age-standardised death rates decreased by 29·0% (28·7 to 29·3) from 1990 to 2015, the rates of mortality decline in this period substantially varied across the prefectures, ranging from -32·4% (-34·8 to -30·0) to -22·0% (-20·4 to -20·1). During the same time period, the rate of age-standardised DALYs was reduced overall by 19·8% (17·9 to 22·0). The reduction in rates of age-standardised YLDs was very small by 3·5% (2·6 to 4·3). The pace of reduction in mortality and DALYs in many leading causes has largely levelled off since 2005. Known risk factors accounted for 34·5% (32·4 to 36·9) of DALYs; the two leading behavioural risk factors were unhealthy diets and tobacco smoking in 2015. The common health system inputs were not associated with age-standardised death and DALY rates in 2015.Interpretation: Japan has been successful overall in reducing mortality and disability from most major diseases. However, progress has slowed down and health variations between prefectures is growing. In view of the limited association between the prefecture-level health system inputs and health outcomes, the potential sources of regional variations, including subnational health system performance, urgently need assessment.Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Japan Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, AXA CR Fixed Income Fund and AXA Research Fund. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations of coffee and tea consumption with lung cancer risk have been inconsistent, and most lung cancer cases investigated were smokers. Included in this study were over 1.1 million participants from 17 prospective cohorts. Cox regression analyses were conducted to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Potential effect modifications by sex, smoking, race, cancer subtype and coffee type were assessed. After a median 8.6 years of follow-up, 20 280 incident lung cancer cases were identified. Compared with noncoffee and nontea consumption, HRs (95% CIs) associated with exclusive coffee drinkers (≥2 cups/d) among current, former and never smokers were 1.30 (1.15-1.47), 1.49 (1.27-1.74) and 1.35 (1.15-1.58), respectively. Corresponding HRs for exclusive tea drinkers (≥2 cups/d) were 1.16 (1.02-1.32), 1.10 (0.92-1.32) and 1.37 (1.17-1.61). In general, the coffee and tea associations did not differ significantly by sex, race or histologic subtype. Our findings suggest that higher consumption of coffee or tea is associated with increased lung cancer risk. However, these findings should not be assumed to be causal because of the likelihood of residual confounding by smoking, including passive smoking, and change of coffee and tea consumption after study enrolment., (© 2020 UICC.)

Household air pollution (HAP) is of public health concern with ~3 billion people worldwide (including >15 million in the US) exposed. HAP from coal use is a human lung carcinogen, yet the epidemiological evidence on carcinogenicity of HAP from biomass use, primarily wood, is not conclusive. To robustly assess biomass's carcinogenic potential, prospective studies of individuals experiencing a variety of HAP exposures are needed. We have built a global consortium of 13 prospective cohorts (HAPCO: Household Air Pollution Consortium) that have site- and disease-specific mortality and solid fuel use data, for a combined sample size of 587,257 participants and 57,483 deaths. HAPCO provides a novel opportunity to assess the association of HAP with lung cancer death while controlling for important confounders such as tobacco and outdoor air pollution exposures. HAPCO is also uniquely positioned to determine the risks associated with cancers other than lung as well as non-malignant respiratory and cardiometabolic outcomes, for which prospective epidemiologic research is limited. HAPCO will facilitate research to address public health concerns associated with HAP-attributed exposures by enabling investigators to evaluate sex-specific and smoking status-specific effects under various exposure scenarios., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Limited and inconsistent studies exist on the association between the intake of fish, n - 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and n - 6 PUFA and breast cancer. Fish and n - 3 PUFA support various body functions and are thought to reduce the carcinogenesis risk while n - 6 PUFA may have a positive association with cancer risk. We examined the association between intake of fish, n - 3 PUFA [including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)] and n - 6 PUFA and breast cancer with subanalyses on estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status. We investigated 38,234 Japanese women aged 45-74 years from the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study (JPHC study), and during 14.1 years of follow-up time, 556 breast cancer cases were newly diagnosed. Breast cancer risk was not associated with the intake of total fish, n - 3 PUFA and n - 6 PUFA when analyzed in totality through multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models with age as the time scale. Intake of total n - 6 was positively associated with the development of ER+PR+ tumors [multivariable-adjusted HR Q4 vs. Q1  = 2.94 (95% CI: 1.26-6.89; ptrend  = 0.02)]. Intake of EPA was associated with a decreased breast cancer risk for ER+PR+ tumors [multivariable-adjusted HR Q2 vs. Q1  = 0.47 (95% CI: 0.25-0.89; ptrend =0.47)]. While the overall association between the intake of total fish, n - 3 PUFA and n - 6 PUFA and breast cancer risk is null, for ER+PR+ tumors, a positive association was seen between n - 6 intake and breast cancer, and a marginally significant inverse association was observed for EPA intake., (© 2015 UICC.)