BackgroundTo implement personalized medicine, we established a large-scale patient cohort, BioBank Japan, in 2003. BioBank Japan contains DNA, serum, and clinical information derived from approximately 200,000 patients with 47 diseases. Serum and clinical information were collected annually until 2012.MethodsWe analyzed clinical information of participants at enrollment, including age, sex, body mass index, hypertension, and smoking and drinking status, across 47 diseases, and compared the results with the Japanese database on Patient Survey and National Health and Nutrition Survey. We conducted multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusting for sex and age, to assess the association between family history and disease development.ResultsDistribution of age at enrollment reflected the typical age of disease onset. Analysis of the clinical information revealed strong associations between smoking and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, drinking and esophageal cancer, high body mass index and metabolic disease, and hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Logistic regression analysis showed that individuals with a family history of keloid exhibited a higher odds ratio than those without a family history, highlighting the strong impact of host genetic factor(s) on disease onset.ConclusionsCross-sectional analysis of the clinical information of participants at enrollment revealed characteristics of the present cohort. Analysis of family history revealed the impact of host genetic factors on each disease. BioBank Japan, by publicly distributing DNA, serum, and clinical information, could be a fundamental infrastructure for the implementation of personalized medicine.

This comprehensive study presents the prevalence of total visual impairment in the adult Japanese population. The projected increases in the prevalence of visual impairment over time reflect the demographic changes of a declining and aging Japanese population. These projections highlight that the burden of disease due to visual impairment and imposed on society is likely to increase.

The incidence of dry eye disease has increased; the potential for crowdsource data to help identify undiagnosed dry eye in symptomatic individuals remains unknown.OBJECTIVE To assess the characteristics and risk factors associated with diagnosed and undiagnosed symptomatic dry eye using the smartphone app DryEyeRhythm. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSA cross-sectional study using crowdsourced data was conducted including individuals in Japan who downloaded DryEyeRhythm and completed the entire questionnaire; duplicate users were excluded. DryEyeRhythm was released on November 2, 2016; the study was conducted from November 2, 2016, to January 12, 2018.EXPOSURES DryEyeRhythm data were collected on demographics, medical history, lifestyle, subjective symptoms, and disease-specific symptoms, using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (100-point scale; scores 0-12 indicate normal, healthy eyes; 13-22, mild dry eye; 23-32, moderate dry eye; 33-100, severe dry eye symptoms), and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (total of 20 items, total score ranging from 20-80, with Ն40 highly suggestive of depression). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESMultivariate-adjusted logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for symptomatic dry eye and to identify risk factors for undiagnosed symptomatic dry eye.RESULTS A total of 21 394 records were identified in our database; 4454 users, included 899 participants (27.3%) with diagnosed and 2395 participants (72.7%) with undiagnosed symptomatic dry eye, completed all questionnaires and their data were analyzed. A total of 2972 participants (66.7%) were women; mean (SD) age was 27.9 (12.6) years. The identified risk factors for symptomatic vs no symptomatic dry eye included younger age (odds ratio [OR], 0.99; 95% CI, 0.987-0.999, P = .02), female sex (OR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.61-2.46; P < .001), pollinosis (termed hay fever on the questionnaire) (

Creating new eye health service for refractive errors and reducing the unacceptable eye health disparity in refractive errors should be the highest priorities for international public health services in eye care and eye health.