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Psychological attitudes and risk of breast cancer in Japan: a prospective study

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the association between psychological factors and the risk of breast cancer prospectively in a non-Western population.

Methods

Data from the Japan Collaborative Cohort (JACC) study were analyzed. From 1988 to 1990, 34,497 women aged 40–79 years completed a questionnaire on medical, lifestyle and psychosocial factors. The rate ratios (RRs) of their responses were computed by fitting to proportional hazards models.

Results

During the mean follow-up period of 7.5 years, 149 breast cancer cases were documented. Those individuals who possessed “ikigai” (Japanese term meaning something that made one’s life worth living) showed a significantly lower risk of breast cancer (multivariate-adjusted RR = 0.66; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.47–0.94). Those who perceived themselves as able to make decisions quickly also had a lower risk of breast cancer (multivariate-adjusted RR = 0.56; 95% CI = 0.36–0.87). The other factors investigated, including ease of anger arousal and self-perceived stress of daily life were not associated with breast cancer risk.

Conclusions

Although further studies will be necessary to verify these findings, our results suggest that having “ikigai” and being decisive decrease an individual’s subsequent risk of breast cancer.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to K. Aoki (Professor Emeritus at Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan, and former Chairman of the JACC Study Group) and H. Sugano (former Director of the Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research), who greatly contributed to the initiation of this study. The investigators who co-authored this paper or were involved in the JACC Study (and their affiliations) are as follows: A. Tamakoshi (present Chairman of the study group, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine), M. Mori (Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine), Y. Motohashi (Akita University School of Medicine), I. Tsuji (Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine), Y. Nakamura (Jichi Medical School), H. Iso (Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University), H. Mikami (Chiba Cancer Center), Y. Inaba (Juntendo University School of Medicine), Y. Hoshiyama (University of Human Arts and Sciences), H. Suzuki (Niigata University School of Medicine), H. Shimizu (Gifu University School of Medicine), H. Toyoshima (Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine), K. Wakai (Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute), S. Tokudome (Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences), Y. Ito (Fujita Health University School of Health Sciences), S. Hashimoto (Fujita Health University School of Medicine), S. Kikuchi (Aichi Medical University School of Medicine), A. Koizumi (Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University), T. Kawamura (Kyoto University Center for Student Health), Y. Watanabe (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Graduate School of Medical Science), T. Miki (Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine), C. Date (Faculty of Human Life and Environment, Nara Women’s University), K. Sakata (Wakayama Medical University), T. Nose (Tottori University Faculty of Medicine), N. Hayakawa (Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University), T. Yoshimura (Fukuoka Institute of Health and Environmental Sciences), A. Shibata (Kurume University School of Medicine), N. Okamoto (Kanagawa Cancer Center), H. Shio (Moriyama Municipal Hospital), Y. Ohno (Asahi Rosai Hospital), T. Kitagawa (Cancer Institute of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research), T. Kuroki (Gifu University) and K. Tajima (Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute). The JACC Study has been financially supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Nos. 61010076, 62010074, 63010074, 1010068, 2151065, 3151064, 4151063, 5151069, 6279102, 11181101, 17015022, and 18014011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Epidemiology and Prevention, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, 1-1 Kanokoden, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8681, Japan

    Kenji Wakai

  2. Department of Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Masayo Kojima, Sadao Suzuki & Shinkan Tokudome

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine/Biostatistics and Medical Decision Making, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Kazuko Nishio, Yoshimitsu Niwa & Akiko Tamakoshi

  4. Department of Public Health, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, 21 Karimata, Yazako, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi, 480-1195, Japan

    Yingsong Lin

  5. Department of Medical Technology, Nagoya University School of Health Sciences, 1-1-20 Daiko-minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, 461-8673, Japan

    Takaaki Kondo

  6. Department of Public Health/Health Information Dynamics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

    Hiroshi Yatsuya, Koji Tamakoshi & Hideaki Toyoshima

  7. Infectious Diseases Division, Hyogo Prefectural Institute of Public Health and Environmental Sciences, 2-1-29 Arata-cho, Hyogo-ku, Kobe, 652-0032, Japan

    Akio Yamamoto

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  1. Kenji Wakai
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  2. Masayo Kojima
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  5. Yoshimitsu Niwa
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  8. Hiroshi Yatsuya
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  9. Koji Tamakoshi
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Correspondence to Kenji Wakai.

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Wakai, K., Kojima, M., Nishio, K. et al. Psychological attitudes and risk of breast cancer in Japan: a prospective study. Cancer Causes Control 18, 259–267 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0111-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-006-0111-x

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