Published papers

© 2019 UICC Anthropometric measurements, such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and body fat percentage, have been used as indicators of obesity. Despite evidence that excess body fat is a risk factor for colorectal carcinoma (CRC), the magnitude of the association of BMI and other obesity indicators with the long-term risk of CRC remains unclear. Utilizing a Cox proportional hazards regression model, we examined differential associations between predicted body fat percentage and BMI with the risk of CRC (n = 2,017). The associations between CRC incidence and different adiposity measurements were also assessed. Predicted body fat percentage had a similar increased risk of CRC risk as BMI. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, the hazard ratio for CRC in the second to fifth quintiles (compared to the first quintile) of predicted body fat percentage were 1.32, 1.31, 1.53 and 2.09 for men (ptrend < 0.001) and 0.91, 0.90, 0.98 and 1.15 for women (ptrend = 0.03). Among various anthropometric measurements, predicted fat mass and waist circumference were slightly more strongly associated with CRC risk than BMI. In conclusion, the novel anthropometric prediction equations provided further evidence that a greater amount of body fat might contribute to CRC risk in both sexes. An innovative approach enabled us to estimate the susceptibilities of specific body composition with CRC risk, in an inexpensive and minimally invasive manner. Furthermore, the typically used measures of BMI and waist circumference are robust measures of adiposity to predict cancer risk in a relatively healthy population.

© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Background/objectives: To assess the long-term association between low-carbohydrate dietary patterns and incident primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and POAG subtypes defined by highest untreated intraocular pressure (IOP) and by pattern of visual field (VF) loss at diagnosis. Subjects/methods: We followed 185,638 participants of three large US prospective cohorts biennially (1976–2016, 1986–2016 and 1991–2017). Deciles of three low-carbohydrate-diet scores were calculated to represent adherence to diets lower in carbohydrate and higher in protein and fat from any source, animal sources or plant sources. We confirmed POAG cases (n = 2112) by medical record review and used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate multivariable-adjusted relative risks (MVRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: There was no association between the three types of low-carbohydrate-diet scores and POAG: the MVRR for POAG in the highest vs. lowest deciles was 1.13 (95% CI, 0.91–1.39; Ptrend = 0.40) for the overall score; 1.10 (95% CI, 0.89–1.35; Ptrend = 0.38) for the animal score and 0.96 (95% CI, 0.79–1.18; Ptrend = 0.88) for the vegetable score. No differential associations by IOP level was found (Pheterogeneity ≥ 0.06). However, the vegetable score showed a suggestive inverse association with early paracentral VF loss (highest vs. lowest decile MVRR = 0.78 [95% CI, 0.55–1.10]; Ptrend = 0.12) but not with peripheral VF loss only (MVRR = 1.09 [95% CI, 0.83–1.44]; Ptrend = 0.14; Pheterogeneity = 0.03). Conclusions: Low-carbohydrate diets were not associated with risk of POAG. Our data suggested that higher consumption of fat and protein from vegetable sources substituting for carbohydrates was associated with lower risk of the POAG subtype with initial paracentral VF loss.

© 2020 by the authors. Dry eye disease may develop and persist after cataract surgery; however, unilateral cases have not been fully documented. This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in five eye clinics in Japan. A total of 1023 outpatients were initially enrolled, and 89 unilateral pseudophakic subjects with 1+ year of follow-up after uncomplicated cataract surgery were included. The tear break-up times (TBUTs) and keratoconjunctival staining results were compared between phakic and pseudophakic eyes. The mean age of the patients was 69.3 ± 10.4 years (32 men, 36.0%), and the mean postoperative period was 4.6 ± 4.4 (1-20) years. For the ophthalmic parameters, the TBUTs were 4.4 ± 1.9 and 3.8 ± 1.9 s (p < 0.001), the keratoconjunctival staining scores were 0.11 ± 0.38 and 0.22 ± 0.56 (p = 0.02), the spherical equivalents were -1.27 ± 2.51 and ??0.99 ± 1.45 D (p = 0.21), the astigmatic errors were 0.79 ± 0.66 and 0.78 ± 0.58 D (p = 0.80), and the intraocular pressures were 13.6 ± 2.9 and 13.5 ± 2.6 mmHg (p = 0.62) for the phakic and pseudophakic eyes, respectively. The corneal status was significantly worse in the pseudophakic eyes than in the contralateral phakic eyes, even after more than one year after implant surgery. The present results suggested that long-term ocular surface problems should be examined further since they may not originate only from surgery or postoperative ocular surface diseases.

© 2019 Purpose: This population-based, cross-sectional study was performed to assess the influence of life-style modalities, including physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and visual display terminal (VDT) use, on the prevalence of dry eye disease (DED). Methods: The study included a total of 102,582 participants aged 40–74 years, from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study for the Next Generation, a large nationwide prospective ongoing Japanese cohort study. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship of total and leisure-time physical activity, duration of sedentary behaviors, and VDT use (hours/day) with DED. Results: Among 47,346 men and 55,236 women, 25,234 (8315 males and 16,919 females) cases of DED were documented. Total physical activity was significantly related to decreased DED in both sexes; for the highest vs. lowest total physical activity quartiles, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for DED were 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84–0.97; Ptrend<0.03) and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.86–0.95; Ptrend<0.001) for men and women, respectively. Conversely, prolonged sedentary behaviors and VDT use had significantly higher prevalence of DED in both sexes (Ptrend<0.001). Notably, the favorable effect of total physical activity on decreased DED in women was more prevalent with prolonged VDT use (≥2 h/day) (Pinteraction<0.01). In men, the duration of VDT use or sitting was a significant modifier of the inverse relationship between leisure-time physical activity and DED (Pinteraction<0.05). Conclusions: Physical inactivity, prolonged sedentary behaviors, and use of VDT were related to increased susceptibility to DED among middle-aged to older Japanese adults.

© 2020, The Author(s). The study subjects were residents of Chikusei city, Japan, aged 40 years or older who attended annual health check-up programs and participated in the JPHC-NEXT Eye Study which performed non-mydriatic fundus photography of both eyes. The relationship of glaucomatous fundus changes such as optic disc cupping (cup to disc ratio ≥ 0.7) and retinal nerve fiber layer defect (NFLD) with the presence of epiretinal membrane (ERM) were examined cross-sectionally. A total of 1990 persons gave consent to participate in this study in 2013. The overall prevalence of ERM was 12.9%. Of these, 1755 had fundus photographs of sufficient quality and no history of intraocular surgery (mean age: 62.3 ± 10.0 years). After adjusting for age, sex and refractive error, NFLD was positively associated with the presence of ERM (odds ratio [OR]: 2.48; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.24, 4.96; P = 0.010), but optic disc cupping was not (OR: 1.33; CI: 0.71, 2.48; P = 0.37). The results did not necessarily suggest an association between glaucoma and ERM, but indicated an association between NFLD and ERM.

© 2020, The Author(s). Although a meta-analysis previously suggested a positive relationship between diabetes and intraocular pressure (IOP), the interrelationships among diabetes, IOP, and other ocular biometric parameters remain unclear. The present study investigated the relationships of diabetes, haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and serum glucose with IOP and ocular hypertension (IOP > 21 mmHg) in non-glaucomatous Japanese adults living in Chikusei City. Diabetes was defined as a self-reported history of diabetes, the use of antidiabetic medication, or HbA1c levels ≥6.5%. Among 6,786 enrolled participants aged 40 years and above, 734 were classified as diabetic (10.8%). After adjusting for several confounders, the IOP values were significantly higher in participants with diabetes than in those without diabetes (14.4 ± 0.1 vs. 13.9 ± 0.1 mmHg, P < 0.001) and were also significantly increased in those with elevated HbA1c and serum glucose levels (both P < 0.001). Moreover, diabetes was significantly related to ocular hypertension (multivariable-adjusted odds ratio, 1.75; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–2.81; P < 0.05). The positive influence of diabetes with ocular hypertension was consistent even after adjustment for central corneal thickness. In conclusion, diabetes, elevated HbA1c, and increased serum glucose are significant contributing factors for elevated IOP.