A CASE-CONTROL STUDY ON RISK-FACTORS FOR UTERINE ENDOMETRIAL CANCER IN JAPAN

A case-control study of 143 Japanese women with uterine endometrial ca ncer and 143 individually age-matched controls was conducted to assess the risk factors for endometrial cancers in japan. Among the characte ristics studied, the following factors were significantly greater in t he cases than in the controls: nulliparity (odds ratio for parity 1-3 and greater than or equal to 4 versus nullipara are 0.40 and 0.02, res pectively), obesity (odds ratio: 2.73), hypertension (odds ratio: 2.4) , diabetes mellitus (odds ratio: 6.30), and a personal medical history of cancer (odds ratio: 3.06). The present study showed that Japanese women have the same risk factors for endometrial cancer as those repor ted in Western countries. The recent increase in the incidence of endo metrial cancer in Japan may be largely attributed to the decrease in p arity.