Comparison of cause-specific mortality between respondents and nonrespondents in a population-based prospective study: Ten-year follow-up of JPHC Study Cohort I

Hara, Megumi; Sasaki, Satoshi; Sobue, Tomotaka; Yamamoto, Seiichiro; Tsugane, Shoichiro; for the JPHC Study Group,

« Previous Next »Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume 55, Issue 2 , Pages 150-156, February 2002

Comparison of cause-specific mortality between respondents and nonrespondents in a population-based prospective study:

Ten-year follow-up of JPHC Study Cohort I

Megumi Hara
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Chiba, Japan
Satoshi Sasaki
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Chiba, Japan
Tomotaka Sobue
- Cancer Epidemiology Section, Cancer Information and Epidemiology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Seiichiro Yamamoto
- Cancer Epidemiology Section, Cancer Information and Epidemiology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan
Shoichiro Tsugane
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute East, Chiba, Japan
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-471-34-6854; fax: +81-471-34-6862.
for the JPHC Study Group

Received 4 January 2001; received in revised form 24 June 2001; accepted 12 July 2001.

Abstract

To evaluate the magnitude and duration of the “healthy volunteer effect” (HVE) in a middle-aged general population in Japan, we followed 54,396 subjects (26,998 men, 27,398 women) of the JPHC Study Cohort I from 1990 through 1999, and compared cause-specific mortality between respondents (79%) and nonrespondents to a baseline questionnaire survey. Age and area-adjusted RRs of mortality were higher among nonrespondents for all causes (2.02, 95% CI = 1.83–2.24), all cancers (1.43, 1.20–1.71), all circulatory system diseases (2.26, 1.86–2.74), and cerebrovascular disease (2.73, 2.04–3.66) in men, and 1.63 (1.39–1.92), 1.22 (0.94–1.58), 1.53 (1.07–2.20), and 1.65 (1.02–2.65), respectively, in women. These effects were not observed for ischemic heart disease. RR elevation for cancer was observed only in the first 2 years of follow-up (4.14, 2.74–6.26 versus 1.14, 0.93–1.40 after 2 years), while that for cerebrovascular disease was relatively stable for the entire period. In conclusion, HVE differed according to the causes and length of follow-up.

Keywords: Epidemiological studies, Healthy volunteer effect, Response bias, Prospective study, Questionnaire survey, General population