Ovarian cancer mortality among women aged 40-79 years in relation to reproductive factors and body mass index: latest evidence from the Japan Collaborative Cohort study / 부인종양

OBJECTIVE: This study mainly aimed to investigate the association of ovarian cancer mortality with reproductive factors and body mass index among Japanese women aged 40-79 years. METHODS: The source of the data was the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) study which covered the period of 1988 to 2009. A representative sample of 64,185 women was used. Cox model was used to estimate the relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: The total number of ovarian cancer deaths was 98, with a mortality rate of 9.30 per 100,000 person-years. Women with single marital status revealed significantly higher age-adjusted RR (RR, 4.11; 95% CI, 1.66 to 10.23; p=0.005) as compared to married women. The effect of single marital status was stronger among older women aged 50+ years (RR, 4.58; 95% CI, 1.65 to 12.72; p=0.003) than younger women. An elevated risk was found for both nulliparous and nullipregnant women. Similarly, an increased risk of ovarian cancer mortality was estimated among overweight among aged 50 years or less. CONCLUSION: Out of many factors only single marital status indicated a higher risk for ovarian cancer mortality. All other factors provided inconclusive results, which imply further epidemiological investigations.

Influence of Life-related Factors and Participation in Health Examination on Mortality in a 4.5-year Follow-up of a Rural Cohort

To identify life−related factors causing increased mortality, 2, 769 rural residents aged 29−77 were investigated through a self−administered questionnaire in 1990. Death certificates and migration information were inspected during the 4.5−year follow−up period. Age, obesity, life attitude, job, marital status, drinking and smoking habits, previous or current illness, and frequency of participation in health examinations were checked during the baseline survey. The person−year mortality rate was higher among irregular participants in health examinations than among regular participants both among males and females. From Cox’s multiple regression analysis, factors with a significantly high hazard ratio (HR) for mortality were irregular participation (HR=2.05), increase of age (HR=1.54, for 10 years), previous or current illness (HR=2.44), unemployment (HR=1.95), and living without a spouse (HR=2.61) for males; and for females they were having previous or current illness (HR=15.21) and living without a spouse (HR=2.94). Thus, irregular participation in health examinations, unemployment and aging showed a relationship with a higher mortality only in males. A previous or current illness and living without a spouse were related in both sexes.