National statistics on multiphasic health testing (Human Dock, AMHTS)--with special reference to annual changes in...

The present paper discusses the results of an 8-year nationwide survey of multiphasic health testing (MHT) since 1984, referring to the changes with time in the rates of detection of cancers and abnormalities as risk factors for adult diseases. 1) The numbers of hospitals with human dock and institutions with AMHTS answering the questionnaire increased from year to year, with a growth to match in the number of subjects receiving MHT. In 1991, the number of such subjects reached 1,730,000. 2) The relative frequencies of cancers by organs were the stomach greater than the colon greater than the lungs in each of the 8 survey years. The frequency of gastric cancer decreased by 16.7% in the 8 years, while the frequency of colonic cancer increased by 16.3% in the same period. The frequency ratio of gastric to colonic cancer in 1991 was, therefore, 10:6. The proportion of early cancers to cancers detected by MHT was nearly 80% in both gastric and colonic cancers. The high rates of detection of early cancers indicate the utility of MHT. 3) The frequencies of six abnormalities (obesity, impaired glucose tolerance, hepatic dysfunction, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypercholesterolemia) as risk factors for adult diseases tended to decrease from year to year. However, when the country was divided into 7 districts to determine regional differences in the frequencies of six abnormalities, it was found the the frequencies of hepatic insufficiency and hypercholesterolemia, in particular, had been increasing form year to year in the northern parts (Hokkaido and Tohoku districts) of Japan and in the southern parts (Kyushu and Shikoku-Chugoku districts). 4) The results of the nationwide survey suggests that regional differences in the health conditions of the nation should be taken into consideration in implementing measures against colonic cancer and life guidance in future MHT.