Annual Report 2017
Division of Health Sociology
Seiichiro Yamamoto, Yuri Mizota, Akihiro Shimoda, Hiromi Koitabashi, Yoko Takahashi, Kumiko Toyoshima, Rika Nakamura
Introduction
The Division of Health Sociology was established in January 2016. Our division investigates the methods of distribution and dissemination of scientific evidence concerning cancer prevention, screening, and survivorship. The aim of the research is to fill the gap between the scientific evidence and the behavior of the people for cancer prevention and screening by supporting local governments and directly approaching to the public. In addition, because of the lack of evidence, we try to establish scientific evidence for cancer survivorship.
As for the activity for building a research infrastructure, we conduct methodological research and education concerning behavioral science, epidemiology, and biostatistics, and support large scale interventional studies.
Research activities
1. Research concerning promotion of cancer prevention and screening using social marketing method
In order to increase the participation rate of cancer screening, we developed several client reminders of cancer screening such as leaflets, and supported local municipalities by conducting workshops and disseminated information on the website. As a result, a total of 91 municipalities in 30 prefectures used our materials. We evaluated the participation rate of cancer screening for the municipalities that used our materials last year and most of them obtained increased participation rates. We are also developing materials for the promotion of participation in the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) testing and smoking cessation using a social marketing approach.
2. Research for cancer survivorship
A large cohort is being established for breast cancer patients to investigate the effect of lifestyle and psychosocial factors on their quality of life (QOL) and prognosis. The cohort consists of several sub-cohorts including collaborative cohorts of clinical trials, a cohort in the National Cancer Center (NCC), and a collaborative cohort with the Setouchi Breast Cancer Registry. As of March 2018, we recruited more than 650 breast cancer patients this fiscal year and 6,441 patients in total. The cohort became the largest patient cohort in the world. We also started the patient cohort for the same objectives for colon and rectal cancers in December 2015. We recruited 208 patients this fiscal year (589 in total).
Education
We developed an e-learning website, ICRweb (https://icrweb.jp), for the education of staff involved in clinical research such as researchers, data managers, clinical research coordinators, and members in the institutional review boards. As of March 2018, more than 15,000 new users were registered this fiscal year and more than 83,000 users were registered in total. ICRweb provided 37 new contents this year and more than 220 contents are available in total. In order to achieve sustainable development, we started charging a nominal fee for users and user institutions to issue certificates.
Future prospects
Our focus is not only on prevention and screening, but also on treatment and survivorship. We will keep these activities for all people suffering from cancer to reduce their suffering as much as possible.
List of papers published in January 2017 - March 2018
Journal
1. Sano T, Sasako M, Mizusawa J, Yamamoto S, Katai H, Yoshikawa T, Nashimoto A, Ito S, Kaji M, Imamura H, Fukushima N, Fujitani K. Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate Splenectomy in Total Gastrectomy for Proximal Gastric Carcinoma. Ann Surg, 265:277-283, 2017
2. Tanabe Y, Tsuda H, Yoshida M, Yunokawa M, Yonemori K, Shimizu C, Yamamoto S, Kinoshita T, Fujiwara Y, Tamura K. Pathological features of triple-negative breast cancers that showed progressive disease during neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Cancer Sci, 108:1520-1529, 2017
3. Mizota Y, Ohashi Y, Iwase T, Iwata H, Sawaki M, Kinoshita T, Taira N, Mukai H, Yamamoto S. Rainbow of KIBOU (ROK) study: a Breast Cancer Survivor Cohort in Japan. Breast Cancer, 25:60-67, 2018