Stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD) are major causes of death throughout the world. As half of the world’s population lives in Asian countries, prevention of stroke and CAD in Asia is crucial. ...According to the vital statistics, East Asian countries have a lower mortality rate for CAD than for stroke. In contrast, CAD is a more common cause of death than stroke in other Asian countries and Western countries. Hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking are major risk factors for stroke and CAD in Asia as well as in Western countries. In an observational study in Japan, the stroke incidence decreased as a result of improvements in blood pressure control and reduction in the smoking rate over the past half century, whereas the CAD incidence did not show a clear secular change, probably because the benefits of blood pressure control and smoking cessation were negated by increasing prevalence of both glucose intolerance and hypercholesterolemia. Although Asian populations have lower serum cholesterol levels than Western populations, the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia has increased during the past half century in Asia. In addition, the smoking rate among Asian men is higher than for Western men. These results underscore that, in addition to blood pressure control, smoking cessation and the management of metabolic risk factors are very important for prevention of stroke and CAD in Asia. (Circ J 2013; 77: 1923–1932)
The Hisayama Study is an ongoing epidemiological study of stroke, coronary artery disease (CAD), and other noncommunicable diseases in a general Japanese population established in 1961. According to ...the longitudinal data from the Hisayama Study, average levels of systolic blood pressure among hypertensive individuals have decreased with time since 1961. In contrast, the prevalence of metabolic risk factors such as obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and glucose intolerance has increased with time. The incidence rates of ischemic stroke in this population have declined significantly as a result of improvement in hypertension management, but the proportion of atherothrombotic brain infarction (ATBI) and embolic stroke among the total ischemic stroke cases have increased probably due to the increased prevalence of metabolic risk factors and the increased number of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) with super-aging population. Therefore, a strategy to reduce the risks of ATBI and embolic stroke by comprehensive management of their risk factors is necessary.In this review, we first show the secular trends in the incidence of stroke and the prevalence of its risk factors using the data from the Hisayama Study. Then, the studies for the association of traditional risk factors with stroke development in the Hisayama Study are introduced. Finally, we developed risk prediction models to estimate the absolute risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD; including ATBI and CAD) and AF, that may be used for the stratification of future risk of ATBI and AF-related stroke in clinical practice or health examination.
Aims: This study aims to investigate the association between serum small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) cholesterol level and the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a Japanese ...community. Methods: A total of 3,080 participants without prior cardiovascular disease, aged 40 years or older, were followed up for 8 years. The participants were divided into the quartiles of serum sdLDL cholesterol levels. The risk estimates were computed using a Cox proportional hazards model. Results: During the follow-up period, 79 subjects developed CHD. Subjects in the highest quartile had a 5.41- fold (95% confidence interval, 2.12–13.82) higher risk of CHD than those in the lowest quartile after controlling for confounders. In the analysis classifying the participants into four groups according to the levels of serum sdLDL cholesterol and serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, the risk of CHD almost doubled in subjects with sdLDL cholesterol of ≥ 32.9 mg/dL (median), regardless of serum LDL cholesterol levels, as compared with subjects with serum sdLDL cholesterol of ＜32.9 mg/dL and serum LDL cholesterol of ＜120.1 mg/dL (median). When serum sdLDL cholesterol levels were incorporated into a model with known cardiovascular risk factors, c-statistics was significantly increased (from 0.77 to 0.79; p=0.02), and the net reclassification improvement was also significant (0.40; p＜0.001). Conclusions: The present findings suggest that the serum sdLDL cholesterol level is a relevant biomarker for the future development of CHD that offers benefit beyond the serum LDL cholesterol level and a possible therapeutic target to reduce the burden of CHD in a Japanese community.
Aim:To develop and validate a new risk prediction model for predicting the 10-year risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in Japanese adults. Methods: A total of 2,454 participants ...aged 40–84 years without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) were prospectively followed up for 24 years. An incident ASCVD event was defined as the first occurrence of coronary heart disease or atherothrombotic brain infarction. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to construct the prediction model. In addition, a simplified scoring system was translated from the developed prediction model. The model performance was evaluated using Harrell’s C statistics, a calibration plot with the Greenwood-Nam-D’Agostino test, and a bootstrap validation procedure. Results: During a median of a 24-year follow-up, 270 participants experienced the first ASCVD event. The predictors of the ASCVD events in the multivariable Cox model included age, sex, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, proteinuria, smoking habits, and regular exercise. The developed models exhibited good discrimination with negligible evidence of overfitting (Harrell’s C statistics: 0.786 for the multivariable model and 0.789 for the simplified score) and good calibrations (the Greenwood-Nam-D’Agostino test: P=0.29 for the multivariable model, 0.52 for the simplified score). Conclusion: We constructed a risk prediction model for the development of ASCVD in Japanese adults. This prediction model exhibits great potential as a tool for predicting the risk of ASCVD in clinical practice by enabling the identification of specific risk factors for ASCVD in individual patients.
Background: The prevalence of sarcopenia defined using the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) criteria in Asian communities has not been fully addressed. Moreover, few studies have addressed ...the influence of sarcopenia on mortality. Methods: A total of 1,371 and 1,597 residents aged 65 years or older participated in health surveys in 2012 and 2017. Sarcopenia was determined using the AWGS definition. Factors associated with the presence of sarcopenia were assessed using a logistic regression model in participants in the 2012 survey. Subjects in the 2012 survey were followed-up prospectively for a median of 4.3 years. Mortality risk for subjects with sarcopenia was examined using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The crude prevalence of sarcopenia was 7.4% and 6.6% in participants at the 2012 and 2017 surveys, respectively; there was no significant difference between surveys (P = 0.44). The prevalence of sarcopenia increased significantly with age in both sexes (both P for trend <0.001). Subjects with sarcopenia were more likely to exercise less regularly, to intake less total energy, and to exhibit a disability in activity of daily living than those without. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 2.20 (95% confidence interval, 1.25–3.85) in subjects with sarcopenia, compared to those without. Conclusions: Approximately 7% of older subjects had sarcopenia in a community-dwelling older Japanese population. Moreover, subjects with sarcopenia had an increased mortality risk. Our findings suggest that a public health strategy for sarcopenia is needed to extend healthy life expectancy.
Clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK) is one of the major pediatric renal neoplasms, but its associated genetic abnormalities are largely unknown. We identified internal tandem duplications in the ...BCOR gene (BCL6 corepressor) affecting the C terminus in 100% (20/20) of CCSK tumors but in none (0/193) of the other pediatric renal tumors. CCSK tumors expressed only an aberrant BCOR allele, indicating a close correlation between BCOR aberration and CCSK tumorigenesis.
In this study, we aimed to determine whether insulin resistance is associated with clinical outcomes after acute ischemic stroke.
We enrolled 4,655 patients with acute ischemic stroke (aged 70.3 ± ...12.5 years, 63.5% men) who had been independent before admission; were hospitalized in 7 stroke centers in Fukuoka, Japan, from April 2009 to March 2015; and received no insulin therapy during hospitalization. The homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) score was calculated using fasting blood glucose and insulin levels measured 8.3 ± 7.8 days after onset. Study outcomes were neurologic improvement (≥4-point decrease in NIH Stroke Scale score or 0 at discharge), poor functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale score of ≥3 at 3 months), and 3-month prognosis (stroke recurrence and all-cause mortality). Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association of the HOMA-IR score with clinical outcomes.
The HOMA-IR score was associated with neurologic improvement (odds ratio, 0.68 95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.83, top vs bottom quintile) and with poor functional outcome (2.02 1.52-2.68, top vs bottom quintile) after adjusting for potential confounding factors, including diabetes and body mass index. HOMA-IR was not associated with stroke recurrence or mortality within 3 months of onset. The associations were maintained in nondiabetic or nonobese patients. No heterogeneity was observed according to age, sex, stroke subtype, or stroke severity.
These findings suggest that insulin resistance is independently associated with poor functional outcome after acute ischemic stroke apart from the risk of short-term stroke recurrence or mortality.
Whether rapid lowering of elevated blood pressure would improve the outcome in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage is not known.
We randomly assigned 2839 patients who had had a spontaneous ...intracerebral hemorrhage within the previous 6 hours and who had elevated systolic blood pressure to receive intensive treatment to lower their blood pressure (with a target systolic level of <140 mm Hg within 1 hour) or guideline-recommended treatment (with a target systolic level of <180 mm Hg) with the use of agents of the physician's choosing. The primary outcome was death or major disability, which was defined as a score of 3 to 6 on the modified Rankin scale (in which a score of 0 indicates no symptoms, a score of 5 indicates severe disability, and a score of 6 indicates death) at 90 days. A prespecified ordinal analysis of the modified Rankin score was also performed. The rate of serious adverse events was compared between the two groups.
Among the 2794 participants for whom the primary outcome could be determined, 719 of 1382 participants (52.0%) receiving intensive treatment, as compared with 785 of 1412 (55.6%) receiving guideline-recommended treatment, had a primary outcome event (odds ratio with intensive treatment, 0.87; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.75 to 1.01; P=0.06). The ordinal analysis showed significantly lower modified Rankin scores with intensive treatment (odds ratio for greater disability, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.77 to 1.00; P=0.04). Mortality was 11.9% in the group receiving intensive treatment and 12.0% in the group receiving guideline-recommended treatment. Nonfatal serious adverse events occurred in 23.3% and 23.6% of the patients in the two groups, respectively.
In patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, intensive lowering of blood pressure did not result in a significant reduction in the rate of the primary outcome of death or severe disability. An ordinal analysis of modified Rankin scores indicated improved functional outcomes with intensive lowering of blood pressure. (Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; INTERACT2 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00716079.).
Objectives
To clarify the effect of tooth loss on development of all‐cause dementia and its subtypes in an elderly Japanese population.
Design
Prospective cohort study.
Setting
The Hisayama Study, ...Japan.
Participants
Community‐dwelling Japanese adults without dementia aged 60 and older (N = 1,566) were followed for 5 years (2007–2012).
Measurements
Participants were classified into four categories according to baseline number of remaining teeth (≥20, 10–19, 1–9, 0). The risk estimates of the effect of tooth loss on the development of all‐cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) were computed using a Cox proportional hazards model.
Results
During follow‐up, 180 (11.5%) subjects developed all‐cause dementia; 127 (8.1%) had AD, and 42 (2.7%) had VaD. After adjusting for potential confounders, there was a tendency for the multivariable‐adjusted hazard ratio of all‐cause dementia to increase with decrease in number of remaining teeth (P for trend = .04). The risk of all‐cause dementia was 1.62 times as great in subjects with 10 to 19 teeth, 1.81 times as great in those with one to nine teeth, and 1.63 times as great in those with no teeth as in those with 20 teeth or more. An inverse association was observed between number of remaining teeth and risk of AD (P for trend = .08), but no such association was observed with risk of VaD (P for trend = .20).
Conclusion
Tooth loss is associated with an increased risk of all‐cause dementia and AD in the Japanese population.
Background:Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia in the elderly, and causes complications such as cardioembolic stroke. Serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a marker of ...systemic inflammation, has been reported to be a risk factor for developing AF in Western countries. However, few community-based studies have examined this issue in general Asian populations.Methods and Results:A total of 2,510 community-dwelling Japanese participants aged ≥40 years without a history of AF were divided into 4 groups according to the sex-specific quartiles of serum hs-CRP concentrations (Q1, lowest and Q4, highest) and followed up for 24 years. The hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals for the development of AF were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model. During the follow up, 234 subjects developed AF. The risk of AF increased significantly with elevating serum hs-CRP levels after adjustment for potential confounding factors (hazard ratio 95% confidence interval, Q1, 1.00 reference; Q2, 1.26 0.83–1.92; Q3, 1.77 1.18–2.66; and Q4, 1.89 1.24–2.86; P for trend <0.001).Conclusions:The study findings suggest that elevated serum hs-CRP levels are an independent risk factor for the development of AF in a general Japanese population.
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