1. Target areas - characteristics of target areas

The following areas were included in the study areas:

Cohort I

as a cohort of local residents Iwate Prefecture: Ninohe Public Health Center areas--- Ninohe-shi and Karumai-machi Akita Prefecture: Yokote Public Health Center areas --- Yokote-shi and Omonogawa-machi Nagano Prefecture: Saku Public Health Center areas --- eight towns/villages in Minamisaku-gun (Usuda-machi, Saku-machi, Koumi-machi, Kawakami-mura, Minamimaki-mura, Minamiaiki-mura, Kitaaiki-mura, and Yachiho-mura) Okinawa Prefecture: Ishikawa (Chubu) Public Health Center areas --- Gushikawa-shi and Onna-son As a cohort of metropolitan residents Katsushika-ku, Tokyo: Katsushika and Katsuhika-kita Public Health Center areas --- Katsushika-ku The study was launched in 1990. The following areas were included in the study areas:

Cohort II

as a cohort of local residents Ibaraki Prefecture: Mito Public Health Center area --- Tomobe-machi and Iwase-machi Niigata Prefecture: Kashiwazaki (Nagaoka) Public Health Center area --- Oguni-machi Kochi Prefecture: Chuo-Higashi Public Health Center area--- Noichi-cho and Kagami-cho Nagasaki Prefecture: Goto (Kamigoto) Public Health Center area --- Uku-machi, Ojika-cho, Shinuonome-cho, Arikawa-cho, Kamigoto-cho, Narao-cho Okinawa Prefecture: Miyako Public Health Center area --- Hirara-shi, Gusukube-cho As a cohort of metropolitan residents Osaka: Suita Public Health Center area--- Suita-shi The study was launched in 1993.

2. Subjects

Cohort I

With regard to the local population-based cohort, all residents aged 40 to 59 years as of December 31, 1989 (those born between January 1, 1930 and December 31, 1949) were selected from the municipal Basic Resident Register and included in the study. For Katsushika-ku, Tokyo, which is the study area for a health check-up cohort in the metropolitan area, all participants of their 40 year or 50 year check-up conducted by the ward during the five years from 1990 to 1994, were included in the study.

Cohort II

With regard to the local population-based cohort, all registered residents aged 40 to 69 years as of December 31, 1992 (those born between January 1, 1923 and December 31, 1952) were selected from the municipal Basic Resident Register and included in the study. For Suita-City, Osaka, which is the study area for a health check-up cohort in the metropolitan area, there are two cohorts: one is a group of participants of selective health check-up at the National Cardiovascular Center, who were randomly selected from the Basic Resident Register of Suita-City between April 1, 1989 and April 1, 1992, stratifying by gender and age groups of 10 year increments, and among those that were between the ages of 30 to 69 at the time of the selection, and those who were confirmed to have their resident register in Suita city as of April 1, 1993. Another group, administered by the Suita Public Health Center, consists of participants of the 1993 municipal comprehensive health check-up (40 year or 50 year check-up at ), who have their 40th or 50th birthday between April, 1993 and March, 1994, and whose resident register were confirmed to be in Suita-City at the time of their birthdays.

3. Baseline Survey

A questionnaire survey on lifestyle habits, etc. was conducted in the above study population. Further, they were requested to provide blood samples and test data at times of local or workplace health check-ups.

1) Questionnaire survey

Self-administered questionnaires regarding “health promotion questionnaire” were distributed to all participants, and data on lifestyle habits including health status, smoking/alcohol drinking, eating habits, type of work, etc. were collected

Cohort Ｉ        Cohort II   

2) Collection of blood samples and health check-up data

Blood samples and health check-up data have been collected, as much as possible, from the study participants who underwent a local basic health check-up by the Health and Medical Service Law for the Aged, or a routine health check-up at workplace by Industrial Safety and Health Act, and who gave consent.

4. Follow-up of Cohort Participants

All cohort participants are followed up for deaths; migration; cancer and cardiovascular disease incidence (stroke, myocardial infarction).

5. Additional Survey

Five-year follow-up

The second questionnaire survey is conducted in the cohort participants at the 5th year after the start of the cohort study. The objectives of this additional survey are to have semi-quantitative understanding of the participants’ food intake status, which could only be understood qualitatively in the baseline questionnaire survey, to observe any changes in lifestyle, and to obtain information on disease incidence during the 5 years after the start of study. In addition, blood samples and health check-up data are collected in the following year, in accordance with the baseline survey. --- Cohort II Five-year follow-up implementation guidelines (in Japanese)

Cohort Ｉ    

Ten-year follow-up

The third questionnaire survey is conducted in cohort participants at the 10th year after the start of the cohort study.

Cohort Ｉ    

6. Health Education

Newsletters are distributed to cohort participants to keep them informed of the cohort study, and to verify the address and information on disease incidence of the participants. *** To view the following PDF files, you need Adobe Reade.

*** Year distributed Cohort I areas Cohort II areas 1994 PDF (88KB) / GIF (74KB) 1996 PDF (13KB) / GIF (42KB) 1997 PDF (146KB) / GIF (49KB) 1998 PDF (81KB) / GIF (48KB) PDF (924KB) / GIF (55KB) 2000 PDF (747KB) / GIF (49KB) 2002 PDF (747KB) / GIF (49KB) PDF (34KB) / GIF (27KB) 2004 PDF (186KB) PDF (186KB) We have distributed the above, enclosing the summary of 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 from “Study Outcomes to Date”. 2005 PDF (27KB) PDF (26KB) We have distributed the above, enclosing “brochure of multipurpose cohort study outcomes” PDF (3.3MB).

7. Study Schedule

The following chart shows the schedules for the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Cohort I from the year 1989, and Cohort II from the year 1992.

8. Study Plans for 2001 and Onward

At the 11-year time point from the start of the study, we decided to extend the follow-up period by another 10 years, in order to obtain more study outcomes. We will not conduct large-scale surveys as the baseline, 5-year, and 10-year surveys, but we plan to carry out simple questionnaire surveys and follow-ups regarding health status, etc. Study plans for 2001 and onward (documents to be sent to survey participants) * To view PDF files, you need Adobe Reade.
* Cohort I (excluding Katsushika)
* Cohort I (Katsushika)
* Cohort II (excluding Suita, National Cardiovascular Center)
* Cohort II (Suita)
* Cohort II (National Cardiovascular Center)