BACKGROUND Low serum amylase levels may reflect impaired exocrine-endocrine relationship in the pancreas. However, few clinical studies have addressed this issue. Therefore, in this epidemiological study, we investigated whether low serum amylase was associated with the pathogenesis of impaired insulin action: metabolic syndrome (MetS) and diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Serum amylase, ...

BACKGROUND Infection with Helicobacter pylori is an established risk factor for gastric cancer. Results from two studies suggest that it may also be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer. METHODS We conducted a nested case control study among 128,992 adult subscribers to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program who had been enrolled in a multiphasic health checkup from 1964 to 1969. Serum col...

The new diagnostic threshold of hemoglobin A(1c) was made based on evidence from cross-sectional studies, and no longitudinal study supports its validity. To examine whether hemoglobin A(1c) of 6.5% or higher defines a threshold for elevated risk of incident retinopathy, we analyzed longitudinal data of 19,897 Japanese adults who underwent a health checkup in 2006 and were followed up 3 years l...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program in terms of infrastructure of Anganwadi centers, inputs, process, coverage and utilization of services, and issues related to program operation in twelve districts of Gujarat, India. DESIGN Facility (Anganwadi) based study. SETTING Twelve districts of Gujarat, India (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013). PARTICIPANTS I...

BACKGROUND The Checklist for the Reporting of Updated Guidelines (CheckUp) was recently developed. However, so far, no systematic assessment of the reporting of updated clinical guidelines (CGs) exists. We aimed to examine (1) the completeness of reporting the updating process in CGs and (2) the inter-observer reliability of CheckUp. METHODS We conducted a systematic assessment of the reporti...

OBJECTIVES We examined the extent to which changes in worker health, as measured by health checkup items, were associated with increased intensity of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) after controlling for individual time-invariant attributes. METHODS We used panel data from two to four waves of a Japanese occupational cohort survey, focusing on 30,206 observations of 10,106 individuals (...

Objective: This study aimed to examine the factors influencing the requirement of a certificate of long-term care using a basic checklist and items listed in the Special Health Checkup. Method: This study included 7,820 individuals living in Uji city, who were selected from among 8,000 elderly individuals who, in 2008, underwent a specific health checkup (hereafter referred to as the 'specific ...