These results suggest an association between gallstone or polyp of the gallbladder and increased risk of malignancy, implying that an etiological association may also exist.

We examined whether fatty liver, as diagnosed with abdominal ultrasonography , is an independent risk factor for diabetes mellitus during 10 years of follow-up . A total of 840 subjects (467 men and 373 women) were followed for the entire 10 years. The criteria for being non-diabetic were having no history of diabetes, having a fasting plasma glucose level of less than 110 mg/dl and a serum hemoglobin Air level of 6.4% or less. We indicated that every examine received all examinations after 12 hours of fasting. Well-trained technicians performed abdominal ultrasonography . Although univariate analysis revealed that the presence of fatty liver was related to hyperglycemia 10 years later, multiple logistic regression analysis did not support this finding. In the multiple logistic regression analysis fasting plasma glucose levels at the baseline and age were significantly related to hyperglycemia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16, 95% confidence interval [Cl]: 1 .11-1.21, OR = 1.07, 95% Cl: 1.01-1.14, respectively). Fatty liver was not an independent risk factor for hyperglycemia in our follow-up study 10 years after the first diagnosis. The high fasting plasma glucose levels were a risk factor for diabetes, even in the normal range. J Epidemio/2003;13:15-21.

These results suggest an association between gallstone or polyp of the gallbladder and increased risk of malignancy, implying that an etiological association may also exist.

Cigarette smoking was inversely related to gallbladder polyps in males and was positively related to the postcholecystectomy state. Drinking was inversely related to gallstones, GB polyps, and the postcholecystectomy state in males.

We retrospectively analyzed the records for 34,474 women who participated in mass screening for breast cancer by physical examination with or without ultrasonography (US) at Yamanashi Health Care Center between April, 1989 and March, 1994 to evaluate the usefulness of US in mass screening. In one group (15,935 women) conventional physical examination with inspection and palpation alone had been performed, and in another (18,539 women) both conventional physical and US examinations were performed. Breast cancer was detected in 27 of the women (0.08% of the total group screened), 22 of whom were in the group examined by US; moreover, 16 of these 22 women had early breast cancer, which was a non‐palpable tumor in 13. Half of the 22 women were examinees under the age of 50 years. Of the 22 tumors detected in the groups examined by US, 16 (73%) were early breast cancer. The overall detection of early breast cancer (0.09%) in the US group was significantly higher than that (0.01%) in the group examined by conventional methods (P < 0.05). Of the tumors detected in the US group, 59.1% were non‐palpable. These results suggest that early and non‐palpable breast cancer can be detected using US, and the incidence of detection of such tumors in women under the age 50 years is increased in mass screening including US examination. This examination is effective in mass screening for breast cancer, especially for early and non‐palpable breast cancer tumors.