Department of General Internal Medicine, Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan
Department of Comprehensive General Internal Medicine, Kyushu University Faculty of Medical Sciences, Fukuoka, Japan.
BMJ Open. 2021 Dec 21;11(12):e053763. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053763.
The Kyushu and Okinawa Population Study (KOPS) was established to investigate gene-environmental interactions in non-communicable diseases in Japan. Besides collecting blood samples and anthropometric measurements, we also obtained medical histories, psychological status and lifestyle habits, including physical activities and dietary patterns.
KOPS is a community-based prospective cohort study and consists of participants from four southwestern areas in Japan. Baseline surveys were conducted between 2004 and 2007 (wave 1), and 2009 and 2012 (wave 2) at the sites of municipality-based health check-ups. A total of 17 077 participants were included, comprising 10 697 participants of wave 1 and 6380 participants of wave 2; the median age in both groups was 61 years. Among them, 3006 individuals participated in both wave 1 and wave 2 surveys.
We have focused on either risk or confounding factors for non-communicable diseases. We have assessed the clinical utility of the newly developed biomarkers for impaired glucose tolerance, such as urinary myo-inositol and glycated albumin, and atherosclerosis, such as small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. We have conducted an international collaborative study with Framingham Offspring Study to investigate ethnic differences in impaired glucose tolerance and cardiovascular diseases. We have found that insulin resistance and deficiency might account for the ethnic differences in impaired glucose tolerance and cardiovascular disease risks. As gene-environmental interaction analyses, we found a synergic effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gender on the spontaneous elimination of hepatitis C, and a beneficial interaction of SNPs of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and gender on the impact of physical activity. In addition, we reported eight novel loci contributing to the development and severity of coronary artery disease from a large genome-wide association study.
We plan to investigate further the clinical utility of the newly developed biomarkers and the gene-environmental interactions using prospective data.
九州和冲绳人群研究（KOPS）旨在研究日本非传染性疾病的基因-环境相互作用。除了收集血液样本和人体测量数据外，我们还获得了病史、心理状况和生活方式习惯，包括身体活动和饮食模式。
KOPS 是一项基于社区的前瞻性队列研究，由日本四个西南部地区的参与者组成。基线调查于 2004 年至 2007 年（第 1 波）和 2009 年至 2012 年（第 2 波）在市基于健康检查的地点进行。共有 17077 名参与者被纳入，包括第 1 波的 10697 名参与者和第 2 波的 6380 名参与者；两组的中位年龄均为 61 岁。其中，3006 人参加了第 1 波和第 2 波调查。
我们一直关注非传染性疾病的风险或混杂因素。我们评估了新开发的用于评估葡萄糖耐量受损的生物标志物（如尿肌醇和糖化白蛋白）和动脉粥样硬化（如小而密的低密度脂蛋白胆固醇）的临床实用性。我们与弗雷明汉后代研究进行了国际合作研究，以研究葡萄糖耐量受损和心血管疾病的种族差异。我们发现胰岛素抵抗和缺乏可能是葡萄糖耐量受损和心血管疾病风险的种族差异的原因。作为基因-环境相互作用分析，我们发现单核苷酸多态性（SNP）和性别对丙型肝炎自发消除的协同作用，以及高密度脂蛋白胆固醇和性别对体力活动影响的有益相互作用。此外，我们从一项大型全基因组关联研究中报告了八个新的位点，这些位点与冠状动脉疾病的发展和严重程度有关。
我们计划使用前瞻性数据进一步研究新开发的生物标志物和基因-环境相互作用的临床实用性。
