• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.4349-4352
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• 2014

Background: Pancreatic cancer has a high mortality rate because it is usually diagnosed late. Since little is known about this cancer in Iran, with the aim of improving this knowledge deficiency, we evaluated clinical, laboratory biomarkers, imaging findings and treatment modalities in Iranian patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Materials and Methods: 131 cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma in 2010-2013 were obtained from the Taleghani Hospital Record Department. Cases confirmed by histopathology from CT-guided biopsy, EUS-FNA and surgery examination were included. We excluded those with incomplete medical records. Results: The study included 131 subjects between 24 and 97 years of age and a mean age of $63{\pm}13.4$ years. Eighty (61.1%) were male and 51 (38.9%) female. Previous history included diabetes mellitus in 36 (27.5%), alcohol drinking in 5 (3.9%), smoker in 28 (21.4%) and opium addiction in 13 (10%). The common presenting history included weight loss in 79 (60.3%), abdominal pain in 77 (58.8%), fever in 11 (8.4%), nausea in 30 (22.9%), jaundice in 72 (55%), pruritus in 52 (39.7) and anemia in 33 (25.2%). CA19-9 levels with cut offs of 50, 100 and 200 U/ml were increased in 81%, 72% and 66% of patients, respectively. Tumor staging was: stage I, 3 (2.3%); stage II, 10 (7.6%); stage III, 58 (44.3%); and stage IV, 60 (45.8%). From 45 patients, 17 received ERCP inserted metallic stents and 22 plastic stents, the remaining 6 failed that PTC was done. Whipple surgery and chemotherapy were conducted for 10 and 29 patients, respectively. Conclusions: This disease affected older people and there was a male preponderance. The commonest risk factors were diabetes mellitus, smoking and cholelithiasis. The majority of patients presented with loss of appetite, loss of weight, jaundice, abdominal pain and discomfort. Almost all presented at late stages of the disease so that curative surgery was impossible. Also chemotherapy was only performed in a few patients as a neoadjuant treatment.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7891-7895
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• 2014

Background: Tobacco products continue to be used in large quantities in India despite the mandatory inclusion of pictorial health warnings (PHWs) on all tobacco packaging. The circumstances as to how people could continue the use of tobacco to the point of developing head and neck cancer despite enhanced awareness about the ill effects of tobacco is the main focus of this study. Materials and Methods: This study concerned patients with least 5-years history of tobacco use, having been diagnosed with histopathologically proven malignancies of the hypopharynx, larynx, oropharynx and oral cavity presenting at the Government Medical College-Haldwani, Nainital, India. A total of 183 patients were eligible for inclusion during July 1 2013 - June 30 2014. Of these, 59 patients used smoked tobacco exclusively, 22 patients used smokeless tobacco exclusively, and 102 patients used both forms of tobacco. Among users of smoked forms, 75.2% (n=121) were beedi users, and 24.8% (n=40) were cigarette users. Patients were asked direct questions as to whether they had noticed the presence of PHWs upon tobacco products. The reasons as to why PHWs were not effective in stopping the patients from tobacco use were investigated. Results: Of the 183 patients, 146 reported being aware about the presence of PHWs, and when they were asked reasons as to why they continued tobacco despite being aware of ill-effects, the commonest reason chosen (by 53.4%) was that patients had not regarded themselves as using tobacco heavy enough to cause cancer. Among the 36 patients who reported as being oblivious to the presence of PHWs on tobacco products, 63.9% reported that the products they used never displayed any PHWs, and 36.1% reported never having paid attention to the packaging. The awareness about PHWs was higher among cigarette smokers in comparison to beedi smokers (100% vs 76.1%, p=0.0002). Conclusions: Locally produced and marketed tobacco products such as beedis and oral tobacco often fail to display PHWs. The presence of PHWs without doubt enhances awareness about the carcinogenic risks of tobacco. However, enhanced awareness alone may not be enough, and as elucidated by this study, some persons continue to use tobacco to the point of developing malignancies. The need of the hour is the implementation of legal and economic sanctions discouraging the use of tobacco products.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.109-117
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• 2015

Background: Follow-up clinical consultations could improve overall health status as well provide knowledge and education for cancer prevention. Materials and Methods: This is the cross-sectional study using the Korean Community Health Survey (KCHS) 6th edition for 2012, with 115,083 respondents who underwent cancer checkups selected as subjects. Associations between the presence of consultation and the socioeconomic status were determined using statistical methods with the SAS 9.3 statistical package (Cary, NC, USA). Findings: Among the recipients, 32,179 (28.0%) received clinical consultations after cancer screenings. Those in rural areas (odds ratio, OR=0.71, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.73) visited follow-up clinics less frequently than did those in urban areas. Starting at the elementary school level, as the education level increased to middle school (OR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.19-1.34), high school (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.23-1.36) or college (OR=1.76, 95% CI: 1.65-1.89), the participation rates also increased. When compared with the lowest quartile group, the quartile income level showed a statistical trend and difference as follows: second lowest quartile (OR=1.11, 95% CI: 1.07-1.16), third lowest (OR=1.12, 95% CI: 1.07-1.17) and highest quartile income (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.23-1.35). In addition, the people with economic activities (OR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.84-0.90) visited follow-up clinics less frequently than did the others. Current smokers (OR=0.93, 95% CI: 0.89-0.98) and inveterate drinkers (OR=0.88, 95% CI: 0.85-0.94) had a tendency to visit less often than did non-smokers and other drinkers with all cancers combined. Interpretation: We suggest primary prevention through lifestyle modifications including smoking and drinking, and environmental interventions may offer the most cost-effective approach to reduce the cancer burden.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8765-8774
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• 2014

This study aimed at summarizing epidemiological research findings on associations between tobacco, alcohol and tea consumption and risk of gastric cancer (GC) in the Chinese population. The review searched PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and China Biology Medicine (CBM) databases and reference lists of review papers for all studies published in English or Chinese languages. Information extracted, via two independent researchers, from retrieved articles included first author, year of publication, study design, sample size, source of controls and adjusted odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each category. Statistical analyses used software STATA version 12.0. The systematic search found 89 articles containing 25,821 GC cases and 135,298 non-cases. The overall random effects in terms of pooled OR and 95%CI for tobacco, alcohol and tea consumption were 1.62 (95%CI: 1.50-1.74), 1.57 (95%CI: 1.41-1.76) and 0.67 (95%CI: 0.59-0.76) respectively; while the heterogeneity among included studies ranged from 80.1% to 87.5%. The majority of subgroup analyses revealed consistent results with the overall analyses. All three behavioral factors showed statistically significant dose-dependent effects on GC (P<0.05). The study revealed that tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking were associated with over 1/2 added risk of GC, while tea drinking conferred about 1/3 lower risk of GC in the Chinese population. However, these results should be interpreted with caution given the fact that most of the included studies were based on a retrospective design and heterogeneity among studies was relatively high.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5929-5934
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• 2013

Background: Primary brain tumors constitute a small percent of all malignant cancers, but their etiology remains poorly understood. ${\beta}3$ integrin (ITGB3) has been recognized to play influential roles in angiogenesis, tumor growth and metastasis. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is a surface glycoprotein important for tumor invasion and angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether specific genetic polymorphisms of ICAM-1 and ITGB3 could be associated with brain cancer development and progression in a Turkish population. Our study is the first to our knowledge to investigate the relationship between brain tumor risk and ICAM-1 and ${\beta}3$ integrin gene polymorphisms. Materials and Methods: The study covered 92 patients with primary brain tumors and 92 age-matched healthy control subjects. Evaluation of ${\beta}3$ integrin (Leu33Pro (rs5918)) and ICAM-1 (R241G (rs1799969) and K469E (rs5498)) gene polymorphisms was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Results: According to results of our research, the A allele of the ICAM-1 R241G gene polymorphism appeared to be a risk factor for primary brain tumors (p<0.001). Similarly, the frequency of the A mutant allele of ICAM-1 R241G was statistically significant in patients with brain tumors classified as glioma (p<0.001). When allele and genotype distributions of ICAM-1 K469E, ICAM-1 R241G and ${\beta}3$ integrin Leu33Pro gene polymorphisms were evaluated with age, sex, and smoking, there were no statistically significant differences. Haplotype analysis revealed that the frequencies of GAC (rs1799969-rs5498-rs5918) and GAT (rs1799969-rs5498-rs5918) haplotypes were significantly lower in patients as compared with controls (p=0.001; p=0.036 respectively). Conclusions: This study provides the first evidence that ICAM-1 R241G SNP significantly contributes to the risk of primary brain tumors in a Turkish population. In addition, our results suggest that ICAM-1 R241G in combination ICAM-1 K469E may have protective effects against the development of brain cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.957-961
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• 2014

Purpose: With regard to the protective effect of vitamin D against colorectal cancer (CRC), we evaluated genetic variants that might influence vitamin D metabolism: vitamin D receptor (VDR), vitamin D binding protein (GC), vitamin D 25-hydroxylase (CYP2R1), and vitamin D 25-hydroxy 1-alpha hydroxylase (CYP27B1). Materials and Methods: A total of 657 subjects, including 303 cases with CRC and 354 controls were enrolled in this case-control study. All 657 were genotyped for the four gene variants using PCR-RFLP methods. Results: In this study, no significant difference was observed for VDR (rs2238136), GC (rs4588), CYP2R1 (rs12794714), and CYP27B1 (rs3782130) gene variants in either genotype or allele frequencies between the cases with CRC and the controls and this lack of difference remained even after adjustment for age, BMI, sex, smoking status, NSAID use, and family history of CRC. Furthermore, no evidence for effect modification of the variants and CRC by BMI, sex, or tumor site was observed. Conclusions: Our findings do not support a role for VDR, GC, and CYP27B1 genes in CRC risk in our Iranian population. Another interesting finding, which to our knowledge has not been reported previously, was the lack of association with the CYP2R1 gene polymorphism. Nonetheless, our findings require confirmation and possible roles of vitamin D metabolism-related genes in carcinogenesis need to be further investigated.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2008

Osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass and microarchitectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to enhanced bone fragility and fracture risk, is a major public health problem. The diagnostic methods for osteoporosis include simple radiography, bone scan, DXA (Dual energy X-ray Absortiometry) and biochemical markers of bone turnover. Optimal treatment and prevention of osteoporosis require modification of risk factors, particularly smoking cessation, adequate physical activity, and attention to diet, in addition to pharmacologic intervention. The estrogens and raloxifene both prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women, and the estrogens probably also decrease the risk of first fracture. There is good evidence that raloxifene prevents further fractures in postmenopausal women who already have had fractures and some evidence that estrogen does as well. Bisphosphonate prevents bone loss and reduces fractures in healthy and osteoporotic postmenopausal women and in osteoporotic men as well. Risedronate is more potent and has fewer side effects than alendronate and reduces the incidence of fractures in osteoporotic women. Calcitonin increases bone mineral density in early postmenopausal women and men with idiopathic osteoporosis, and also reduces the risk of new fractures in osteoporotic women. All of the agents discussed above prevent bone resorption, whereas teriparatide and strontium increase bone formation and are effective in the treatment of osteoporotic women and men. New avenues for targeting osteoporosis will emerge as our knowledge of the regulatory mechanisms of bone remodeling increases, although issues of tissue specificity may remain to be addressed.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.57-68
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• 1986

The present survey was designed to investigate correlations among blood pressure, nutritional intakes, and various environmental factors in Korean adult males, and to observe the difference in dietary intakes between hypertensive patients and normotensive subjects. Two hundred forty-three adult men from Seoul and rural areas were interviewed about their food intakes, dietary patterns, food habits, and general environmental factors from December 20, 1982 to February 15, 1983. Their dietary intakes were surveyed by means of 24-hour recall diet method. Dietary score card was used in order to evaluate the quality of routine diet of the subject. Variables of environmental factors and factors related to hypertension were expressed as percentage, and the differences in nutrient intake and food score of each sub-group were examined by means of t-test. Correlation of all the variables were analyzed by Pearsons Correlation Coefficient. The results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. 38% of the subjects were between the ages of 40~49, and about one-half of the subjects were middle or high school graduates. 28% of the subjects earned 210, 000~350, 000 Won per month, and income distribution was almost identical to that of the urban population of Korea. 2. There was more overweight or obese found in the hypertensive patients than in the normotensive subjects. About 40% of the hypertensive patients reported a family history of hypertension, and their knowledge about hypertension was rather poor, but slightly better than the normotensive subjects. The patient group had less adherence to smoking and alcohol compared with the normotensive subjects, but no difference was observed in coffee drinking. The mean value of the blood pressure for the normotensive subjects was 127/86mmHg and 175/109mmHg for the hypertensive group. 3. Nutrient intake for the hypertensive group was lower for most of nutrients than in the healthy group. Hypertensive patients on diet therapy consumed less calories and carbohydrates compared with those who do not follow diet therapy. 4. There was no difference intake of these food groups between patients and the healthy group. Food score was strongly related to consumption of animal protein, saturated fats, Calcium, Iron, Vitamin A, Riboflavin, and Vitamin C, which are prone to be deficient in the typical Korean diet. 5. Blood pressure had a strong positive correlation with age, body weight, and socioeconomic level. In addition, monthly income was positively related with age and education level. 6. Three was a positive relationship between blood pressure and consumption of vegetable protein, and a negative relationship with consumption of Calories, Carbohydrates, Calcium, Iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Niacin, and Vitamin C. Animal protein intake increased as income and education levels increased, but this tendency was opposite for carbohydrates. In summary, nutritional intakes are strongly correlated with various environmental factors and the level of blood pressure. There was no difference between normotensive and hypertensive subjects with respect to the quality of food consumed except restricting energy and carbohydrate in the patient group.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.295-309
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• 2006

This study was conducted among 831 industrial workers in Gumi City in Gyung-Sang-Buk Do for the purpose of acquiring knowledge to improve quality of life though industrial workers' oral health promotion. Oral examination and questionnaire surveying were used to evaluate workers' oral health state and subjective health state and analyze their effect on quality of life. 1. The number of workers in the study were 831 in all; there were more males who accounted for 74.6%. 43.7% of the subject were 29 years old, accounting for the largest age group. Their academic backgrounds are 53.6% workers who graduated from high schools or lower educational institutions, and 46.4% workers who graduated from college or higher educational institutions. 80.7% of the subjects replied that their economic state belonged to the middle class. Their job classification indicates that 70.2% were working in production and engineering fields and that the seniority of 55.3% workers was less than 55.3%. 2. The result of evaluating the effects of oral health state on individual well-being and quality of life using OHIP indicates that younger people, singles(p<0.01) than the married, those in worse economic situation and those with shorter seniority(p<0.01) had higher effect of oral health state on quality of life. In addition, those whose health or oral health was not good (p<0.01), those with liked tough texture of food and snacks(p<0.05), those with more frequency of drinking(p<0.01) and those with more smoking tended to have higher effect of oral health state on daily life or quality of life. Besides, OHIP confirmed that oral health state is a measurement tool that can evaluate its effect on individual well-being and quality of life. The suggestion for future studies is to develop Korean style OHIP that can be used conveniently and efficiently by expanding the subject area up to the whole country and validating the samples gained from random sampling.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2019

Objectives: Self-reporting can be used to determine the incidence and prevalence of hypertension (HTN). The present study was conducted to determine the validity of self-reported HTN and to identify factors affecting discordance between self-reported and objectively measured HTN in participants in the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort. Methods: The RaNCD cohort included permanent residents of Ravansar, Iran aged 35-65 years. Self-reported data were collected before clinical examinations were conducted by well-trained staff members. The gold standard for HTN was anti-hypertensive medication use and blood pressure measurements. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and overall accuracy of self-reporting were calculated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to examine the discordance between self-reported HTN and the gold standard. Results: Of the 10 065 participants in the RaNCD, 4755 (47.4%) were male. The prevalence of HTN was 16.8% based on self-reporting and 15.7% based on medical history and HTN measurements. Of the participants with HTN, 297 (18.8%) had no knowledge of their disease, and 313 (19.9%) had not properly controlled their HTN despite receiving treatment. The sensitivity, specificity, and kappa for self-reported HTN were 75.5%, 96.4%, and 73.4%, respectively. False positives became more likely with age, body mass index (BMI), low socioeconomic status, and female sex, whereas false negatives became more likely with age, BMI, high socioeconomic status, smoking, and urban residency. Conclusions: The sensitivity and specificity of self-reported HTN were acceptable, suggesting that this method can be used for public health initiatives in the absence of countrywide HTN control and detection programs.