INCREASED BOWEL MOVEMENTS HELP
PREVENT COLON CANCER
Bowel movement frequency and
risk of colorectal cancer in a large cohort study of Japanese
men and women.
Kojima M, Wakai K, Tokudome S,
Tamakoshi K, Toyoshima H, Watanabe Y, Hayakawa N, Suzuki K,
Hashimoto S, Ito Y, Tamakoshi A; JACC Study Group.
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. masayok@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
The relationship between bowel
movement (BM) frequency and the risk of colorectal cancer was
examined in a large cohort of 25 731 men and 37 198 women living
in 24 communities in Japan. At enrollment, each participant
completed a self-administrated questionnaire on BM frequency and
laxative use. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence
intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox's proportional-hazard
model. During the follow-up period (average length 7.6 years),
649 cases of colorectal cancer, including 429 cases of colon
cancer, were identified. Among
women, subjects who reported a BM every 2-3 days had the lowest
risk of developing colorectal (IRR=0.71, 95% CI=0.52-0.97) and
colon cancer (IRR=0.70, 95% CI=0.49-1.00),
whereas those reporting a BM
every 6 days or less had an increased risk of developing
colorectal (IRR=2.47, 95% CI=1.01-6.01) and colon cancer (IRR=2.52,
95% CI=0.93-6.82) compared with those reporting >or=1 BM
per day. A similar, but nonsignificant, association between the
frequency of BM and cancer risk was observed in men. There was
no association between colorectal or colon cancer risk and
laxative use. Regulating BM
frequency might therefore have a role in the prevention of
colorectal cancer.
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