[A study of the geographic epidemiology of liver cancer death and related factors].

The purposes of this study were to discover dietary factors which induce or suppress the development of liver cancer, and to analyze the features of the geographic distribution of liver cancer death and related factors. First, the relation between liver cancer mortality and food consumption was analyzed by correlation coefficient analysis. Multiple regression and principal component analyses were applied to variables, including green tea and oranges, selected from the above analyses, and liver cirrhosis, HBsAg positivity and alcohol. The data used were from 46 prefectures in Japan. The main findings were as follows; 1. A negative correlation was found between the consumption of green tea and liver cancer mortality, while a positive correlation was found between the consumption of oranges and liver cancer mortality. 2. Among the factors related to liver cancer mortality, liver cirrhosis death was the greatest positive factor, and green tea was the most negative one by multiple correlation analysis. 3. Orenges, liver cancer mortality and liver cirrhosis mortality were shown to have great factor loadings by principal component analysis. 4. A correlation was found between HBsAg positivity and liver cancer mortality. HBsAg positivity and alcohol were shown to have great factor loading in the second component by principal component analysis. 5. The geographic distribution of liver cancer deaths was associated with the environment, climate, dietary habits and food consumption of each district.