International comparison of subclinical atherosclerosis among the Japanese and American men aged 40-49

我们与匹兹堡大学和夏威夷的太平洋健康研究所合作，开展了一项名为ERA JUMP(二战后出生队列中日美男性的EBT和风险因素评估)的国际合作研究。本研究的目的是阐明和比较日本和美国40-49岁男性亚临床动脉粥样硬化的进展情况，并探讨动脉粥样硬化的危险因素。1)美国人的亚临床动脉粥样硬化的进展比日本人更严重，不管日本人的不良风险特征，如更高的血压、更高的吸烟率和相似的胆固醇水平；2)夏威夷的日裔美国人比日本人的亚临床动脉粥样硬化水平更严重，这表明亚临床动脉粥样硬化的决定因素不是遗传差异；3)体力活动似乎不影响动脉粥样硬化的进展，尽管我们在体力活动的初步研究中缺乏足够的样本量和信息。为了血液样本检验标准化的目的，样本被运送到匹兹堡大学的实验室。未来的研究方向将是：1)阐明动脉粥样硬化与胰岛素抵抗的关系；2)增加新的韩国样本，其风险特征更有利，但亚临床动脉粥样硬化的进展比日本人更严重；3)扩大日本人的年龄组

We conducted an international collaborative study, ERA JUMP (EBT and Risk Factor Assessment among Japanese and U.S. Men in the Post World-War II Birth Cohort), cooperating with the University of Pittsburgh and Pacific Health Research Institute in Hawaii. The purpose of this study was to elucidate and compare the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis among the Japanese and American men aged 40-49, and explore risk factors for atherosclerosis.We found the following results during the study period ; 1)the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis was severer in the Americans than in the Japanese, regardless of the unfavorable risk profile in the Japanese such as higher blood pressure, higher smoking prevalence, and similar levels of cholesterol, 2)the Japanese American men in Hawaii had severer levels of subclinical atherosclerosis than the Japanese men in Japan, indicating that the determinant of subclinical atherosclerosis is not genetic difference, and 3)physical activity did not seem to affect the progression of atherosclerosis, although we lacked in sufficient sample size and information in our pilot study on physical activity.For the purpose of standardization of blood sample examinations, samples were shipped to a laboratory in the University of Pittsburgh. We plan to examine lipoprotein profiles by NMR, emerging risk factors such as adipocytokines and possible genetic differences.Future directions of the study would be : 1)to elucidate the relationship between atherosclerosis and insulin resistance, 2)to add a new samples from South Korea whose risk profile is more favorable, but the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis is severer than the Japanese, and 3)to expand the age group in the Japanese