Highlights
Volume 32, Issue 1-12 (2022)
Issue 12 (December 2022)
Issue 12, Supplement (December 2022)
Issue 11 (November 2022)
Issue 10 (October 2022)
Issue 9 (September 2022)
Issue 8 (August 2022)
Issue 7 (July 2022)
Issue 6 (June 2022)
Issue 5 (May 2022)
Issue 4 (April 2022)
Issue 3 (March 2022)
Issue 2 (February 2022)
Issue 1 (January 2022)
Volume 32, Issue 12 (December 2022)
- This is the first study to examine psychosocial differences according to the respondent status in a 5-year follow-up survey among disaster victims.
- We analyzed data from 10,203 Japanese survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster who participated in the prospective survey.
- The most common reasons for nonparticipation in the survey were participated in other health examinations, examined at a hospital, and did not have time to participate.
- We found that nonresponders in the follow-up survey had a higher risk of psychological distress than responders.
- We assessed intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2018 using a nationwide inpatient database in Japan.
- We identified 1,379,618 ICU patients who were admitted to 495 hospitals equipped with 5,341 ICU beds, accounting for 75% of all ICU beds in Japan.
- Mean ICU occupancy for all ICU patients, mechanically ventilated patients, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation patients was 60.0%, 24.0%, and 0.53%, respectively.
- Therefore, Japan's critical care system may have substantial surge capacity to care for critically ill patients under normal temporal variation.
- Postponing elective surgeries and treating lower-acuity patients in other areas are preferred options for reducing strain on ICUs during a pandemic.
- The study included a large-scale sample of participants; 8,829 Japanese adults (3,731 men and 5,098 women).
- Knee extensor muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) may be additively beneficial for bone health.
- Higher knee extensor muscle strength was associated with a lower prevalence of low bone stiffness tendency in both sexes, independent of CRF.
- Association between higher CRF and a lower prevalence of low bone stiffness tendency existed only in men, independent of knee extensor muscle strength.
- Association between CRF and bone health may not be evident in adult Japanese women.
- This is the first report on the prospective associations of eating breakfast away from home and skipping breakfast with adolescent emotional and behavioral problems.
- Vulnerability was highlighted for younger adolescents to total and attention problems and for those with lower weight status to delinquent behaviors.
- Increasing home breakfast consumption may reduce adolescent emotional/behavioral problems and benefit psychosocial health.
Study Profile
The Kesennuma Study in Miyagi, Japan: Study Design and Baseline Profiles of Participants- Reporting study design investigating frailty and psychosocial factors among 7,845 adults aged 65 and older in Kesennuma City.
- Kesennuma was badly affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
- Our collaboration with Kesennuma City aims to delay the need for long-term care by mitigating frailty.
- Outcome of community-based interventions will be assessed with a follow-up survey.
Volume 32, Issue 12, Supplement (December 2022)
Review Article
- The Fukushima Health Management Survey was started in 2011 after the Great East Japan Earthquake.
- External radiation exposure for the first 4 months after the Fukushima accident were surveyed among all Fukushima residents.
- Previous evidence using data up to the 3rd thyroid examination showed no clear association between radiation dose and thyroid cancer or suspicion.
- Residents with higher external radiation doses in Fukushima may suffer from lifestyle-related diseases and psychological distress due to evacuation.
- Studies showed no association between radiation dose and congenital anomalies, low birth weight, shortened gestation period, or preterm birth.
Review Article
- Individual external doses for the first 4-month after the Fukushima accident have been estimated as a part of Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS).
- Arithmetic mean, standard deviation, median, and 90th and 95th percentile values for the first 4-month doses were presented for all 59 municipalities of Fukushima Prefecture in which the residents resided at the time of the accident.
- In addition, first-year municipality-average doses were estimated for 49 municipalities of non-evacuated areas by extrapolation from the first 4-month doses.
- The extrapolated doses will be the basis for future epidemiological studies related to the FHMS.
- Fukushima prefecture implemented the Thyroid Ultrasound Examination program as part of the Fukushima Health Management Survey project for residents aged 0 – 18 years at the time of the nuclear accident.
- As of June 30, 2020, in the first, second, third, and fourth-round of surveys, and the survey at age 25 years, 116, 71, 31, 21, and 7 cases, respectively, were determined to have nodules cytologically diagnosed as malignant or suspicious for malignancy.
- Together with the low thyroid absorbed radiation dose estimated in the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 2020 report, our results suggested that the increased incidence of childhood thyroid cancer in Fukushima prefecture was not caused by radiation exposure, but rather by the highly sensitive detection method.”
- The purpose of conducting the Comprehensive Health Check was to evaluate health statuses of evacuees and prevent lifestyle-related diseases.
- Compared to pre-disaster, cardiovascular risk factors and polycythemia cases increased among evacuees post-disaster.
- From 2011 to 2017, the prevalence of liver dysfunction decreased and the proportion of people with controlled hypertension and dyslipidemia increased, although the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and mean levels of HbA1c increased.
- The risk of diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, chronic kidney diseases and liver dysfunction was higher in evacuees than in non-evacuees from 2011 to 2017.
- The health status of residents in evacuated areas should be monitored on a long-term basis, and preventive measures against lifestyle-related diseases should be taken.
- The Mental Health and Life-style Survey (MHLS) has been conducted yearly for people affected by the 2011 Fukushima disaster since 2012.
- The MHLS, a mail-based questionnaire survey, aims to maintain health and provide telephone-based intervention for people at risk.
- Despite overall improvement in mental health outcomes with time after the disaster, prevalence rates of respondents at risk of some psychiatric problems remain high.
- Several psychological consequences were higher in respondents staying outside of Fukushima Prefecture than in those staying inside Fukushima.
- The MHLS should be further continued and modified to meet the requirements of affected people and communities.
- There are limited studies on the long-term effects of natural/environmental disasters on obstetric outcomes.
- The annual population-based Pregnancy and Birth Survey is conducted as part of the Fukushima Health Management Survey.
- Our survey found that the disaster had no significant adverse effects on obstetrics outcomes in Fukushima Prefecture.
- The findings of this survey could have important public health implications for the perinatal women with anxiety after the disaster.
Review Article
Postpartum Mental Health of Mothers in Fukushima: Insights From the Fukushima Health Management Survey’s 8-year Trends
- We have been conducting an annual Pregnancy and Birth Survey of expectant and nursing mothers since 2011. In addition, respondents were followed at 4 years after childbirth.
- The proportion of mothers with radiation anxiety was higher among respondents in the fiscal year (FY) 2011 follow-up than in the FY2014 follow-up, indicating the prolonged impact of the nuclear accident, especially among those who gave birth immediately after the disaster.
- Continuous care should be provided to mothers who gave birth immediately after the nuclear accident, including routine perinatal care and parenting support, provision of information on radiation, and long-term monitoring of their wellbeing.
- The geographical distribution of thyroid cancer incidence within 6-7 years after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was examined.
- The municipality-level standardized incidence ratio of thyroid cancer after the first (Preliminary Baseline Survey) ultrasound examination was analyzed in Fukushima Prefecture.
- Flexibly shaped spatial scan statistics and Tango’s maximized excess events test (MEET) showed no spatial clustering tendency of the incidence ratios.
- There was no statistical support for a positive association of the incidence ratios with regional average estimates of absorbed radiation doses.
- We investigated the relationship between lifestyle-related diseases and the effective radiation dose due to external exposure (EDEE) after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE).
- We analyzed the data of 54,087 residents (22,599 men; 31,488 women) aged 16 to 84 years including the EDEE data of 25,685 residents supplemented using multiple imputation.
- EDEE was not directly associated with the incidence of lifestyle-related diseases after the GEJE.
- We examined the association between external radiation doses and psychological distress or post-traumatic stress after the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.
- There were no dose-dependent associations between radiation dose and post-traumatic stress.
- Stressful situations and perception of radiation risk may increase the risk of psychological distress in women in the higher radiation dose group.
- We investigated the effects on perinatal outcomes of external maternal exposure to radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster.
- The relationship between radiation dose and perinatal outcomes was investigated using a binomial logistic regression analysis.
- The median maternal external radiation dose from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster was 0.5 mSv.
- Maternal external radiation dose was not associated with congenital anomaly, low birth weight, small for gestational age, or preterm birth.
Volume 32, Issue 11 (November 2022)
- We estimated causal relationships between high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using Mendelian randomization (MR) among 10,542 Japanese.
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We used two different instrumental variables (IVs) based on SNPs identified in European (IVCRP) and Asian (IVAsian) populations.
- The explained variance of hs-CRP was 3.4% and 3.9% in IVCRP and IVAsian, respectively.
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Conventional linear regression analysis showed a significant association between serum levels of hs-CRP and eGFR.
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Using two IVs, two-sample MR did not support a causal relationship between hs-CRP and eGFR.
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We clarified the association of physical activity (PA) with hippocampal volume (HV).
- Compared to the sedentary behavior and light PA, moderate to vigorous PA was associated with right HV, but not with left HV.
- This is the first study on the association between lifestyle habits and abdominal obesity among residents in an area affected by nuclear disaster.
- It was found that 34.2% and 36.6% of individuals had abdominal obesity before and after the disaster, respectively.
- Abdominal obesity after disaster might be associated with not only lifestyle habits before the disaster but also changes in these habits after the disaster.
- Especially, smoking cessation was positively associated with abdominal obesity in both evacuees and non-evacuees and in both men and women.
- This nationwide, door-to-door survey demonstrated significantly higher prevalence of dementia in rural areas with rural/urban ratio being 1.9, and the urbanization effects were more significant in women with the ratio up to more than 5 in women at the age of 65-74 years.
- Urbanization level was an independent associated factor for mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
- Impacts of factors such as sex and regular exercise on dementia varied among different urbanization status.
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Because of the inequality of medical services between urbanization levels, interventions of dementia prevention specifically for rural or urban residents are suggested in future public health policy.
- The number of inter-prefectural travelers decreased most during the first state of emergency (SOE), but less with each subsequent SOE.
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There was an increase in the number of travelers and inter-prefectural connectedness during the Go To Travel campaign.
- Travel between distant prefectures decreased more than that between prefectures with geographic proximity during the pandemic.
- Increased inter-prefectural “connectedness” was correlated with higher rates of COVID-19 infection for the entire pandemic period.
Short Communication
Changes in Health-related Quality of Life Among Impoverished Persons in the Free/Low-Cost Medical Care Program in Japan: Evidence From a Prospective Cohort Study
- The Free/Low-Cost Medical Care Program (FLCMC) is available for financially disadvantaged patients to lessen or eliminate their medical payments.
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We examined the association between socioeconomic attributes and health-related quality of life of FLCMC beneficiaries.
- Among those enrolled in the FLCMC, the health-related quality of life scores increased in lower income patients.
- Among the beneficiaries of the FLCMC, living alone was potentially associated with a decrease in health-related quality of life scores.
Volume 32, Issue 10 (October 2022)
- The normal distribution assumption for the random-effects models in meta-analysis can yield misleading conclusions if the model assumption is inadequate.
- We developed new methods using flexible probability distribution models for the random-effects models and an easy-to-handle statistical package, flexmeta, to perform these methods.
- The results of two recently published meta-analyses were markedly altered by application of the proposed flexible methods.
- The flexible random-effects distribution models offer useful tools for producing accurate conclusions and should be considered as a standard means to conduct sensitivity analyses in systematic reviews.
- This study is the first population-level long-term analysis of the chronic kidney disease (CKD)burden associated with lifestyle factors using the comparative risk assessment method in China.
- Current smoking, high triglyceride, and high systolic blood pressure were the top three risk factors that contributed to CKD burden in China.
- Increased body mass index, diastolic blood pressure, plasma glucose, and decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were also associated with the increase in CKD burden.
- The results of this study can be used to help inform policy strategies for CKD prevention at the population level.
- Although social participation has been reported to be associated with disability risk, no study has estimated its impact on healthy life expectancy.
- The number of social participations was associated with longer disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) for both sexes.
- The DFLE in all three activities groups was about 5 years longer than the no activities group for both sexes.
- This difference in DFLE did not change after the participants were stratified for smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and depression.
- Social participation has an impact on extending DFLE and encouraging it at the population level is one of the possibilities to increase DFLE.
- Association between procrastination in childhood and poor health conditions in adulthood has been reported; however, there is a scarcity of investigation about remaining teeth in older people.
- We examined the association of procrastination tendencies in childhood with the number of remaining teeth among community-dwelling older Japanese adults.
- Higher procrastination tendency in childhood was significantly associated with having fewer remaining teeth in older age.
- This study is the largest prospective cohort study ever conducted to investigate the association between ginseng consumption and mortality.
- Regular ginseng use was associated with reduced all-cause mortality in a dose- response manner with the duration of ginseng consumption.
- Long-term ginseng use was associated with decreased risk of death due to cardiovascular diseases and other causes of death.
- Compared with those who never used ginseng, regular ginseng use was associated with a significantly reduced all-cause mortality (HR 0.92, 95% CI, 0.87–0.98).
- Regular ginseng consumption may confer some health benefits in reducing mortality.
- Suppression of overall physician visits during the spread of COVID-19 (April and May 2020) was observed compared to the same months in 2019 among patients with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus in Japan.
- Telemedicine has not made a substantive contribution to continuous physician visits in Japan.
- It was found that policies enacted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were associated with suppression of physician visits and a slight increase in the utilization of telemedicine among patients with diabetes.This has important implications for policymakers.
Volume 32, Issue 9 (September 2022)
- Older adults who have a family physician have around twice higher odds of pneumococcal and influenza vaccination.
- Physicians’ listening attitude is associated with higher odds of pneumococcal and influenza vaccination.
- Patients’ questioning attitude is positively associated with pneumococcal vaccination.
- Shared decision-making is associated with higher odds of pneumococcal vaccination.
- It is suggested that modal shifts in transport may reduce overall road injuries.
- Road injury risk is high among cyclist junior high students while commuting in Japan.
- Heavy snowfall reduced road deaths and serious injuries by 68 %.
- The reduction was likely due to modal shifts from cycling to other, safer modes.
- Inducing modal shifts can be an important tool for increasing road safety.
- This is the first national study on the association between the time to first cigarette after waking (TTFC) and the prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases in China.
- Significant differences in the association between shorter or longer TTFC and the prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases have been detected among elderly Chinese smokers, contrary to previous studies.
- Compared with TTFC >30 min, TTFC ≤30 min is associated with higher prevalences of chronic respiratory diseases in females, those aged ≥90 years old, urban residents, and ex-smokers.
- Tobacco control efforts to delay the time interval from waking to the first cigarette might be beneficial to specific sub-populations.
- The threshold for TTFC predicting the prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases should be set differently for various races.
- We explored the associations between exposure to various intensity and timing trajectories of severe hypoglycemic events and risk of dementia in patients with type 2 diabetes.
- We used a novel group-based trajectory model to better illustrate the role of severe hypoglycemia on the relationship between type 2 diabetes.
- We found that early manifestation and uninterrupted clusters of severe hypoglycemia within a 3-year period after new diagnosis of type 2 diabetes posed a greater influence on the increased risk of dementia.
- Patients with type 2 diabetes experiencing early or persistently recurrent severe hypoglycemia can be used as a measure for risk stratification of subsequent dementia.
- Return-to-work and resignations commonly occurred within 1 year of sick leave among long-term sickness absentees in the Japanese private sector.
- As previously reported among European workers, the cumulative return-to-work rate differs between diagnostic groups among Japanese workers.
- The cumulative incidence of death was visible among long-term absentees with neoplasms.
- A paid sick-leave system, which ensures 1 year of leave, would enable most long-term sickness absentees to return to work.
- Reduction of death rates through early cancer detection would enhance work continuity among long-term absentees with neoplasms in Japan.
Volume 32, Issue 8 (August 2022)
- Heated tobacco product (HTP) use has spread dramatically in Korea since its introduction in 2017, and it may potentially be attributed to the positive perception of HTPs.
- Contrary to the tobacco companies’ claims, HTPs could not be considered substitutes for conventional cigarettes to aid in the cessation of tobacco use, as a substantial portion of poly-product users of HTPs reported a lower intention to quit.
- Ambiguous naming of HTPs as “conventional cigarette like e-cigarettes” in Korea could affect market response with the products confusion and make difficulties in exact monitoring of product use.
- Caring for grandchildren has no detrimental or favorable impact on grandparents’ health.
- Positive association observed from cross-sectional data is not supported by longitudinal analysis.
- Grandfathers’ health is not sensitive to caring for grandchildren.
- Results contrast with caring for parents, which has an adverse impact on health.
- We examined association of body mass index (BMI) with prevalence and incidence of herpes zoster using the data from a community-based prospective cohort study in Japan.
- Overweight significantly decreased the risk of incidence of herpes zoster than normal weight, especially in women.
- The BMI was not associated with a prevalence of herpes zoster.
- We examined the association between nutrient patterns and fatty liver index (FLI) and its components.
- A nutrient pattern rich in vitamins, dietary fiber, iron and potassium was inversely associated with high FLI (P for trend <0.001), after adjusting for potential confounders.
- Analysis of each component of FLI suggested that obesity and abdominal obesity were intermediate variables for the association between this nutrient pattern and FLI.
- Studies on the impact of financial crises on cancer have not yielded consistent findings.
- Most of the earlier studies have used only unemployment to measure the recession impact, and only cancer mortality as an outcome.
- Finland’s economic recession in early 1990s seemed to pose cancer risks to men, but not to women according to our study of 20-years follow-up.
- Various health and social policy tools are needed to protect population health during and after future macroeconomic downturns.
- The Shizuoka Kokuho Database (SKDB) is an individual-level, population-based longitudinal cohort of Shizuoka Prefecture residents.
- The SKDB comprises data of all insured individuals with National Health Insurance and Latter Stage Elderly Medical Care System.
- From April 2012 to September 2018, the SKDB included 2,230,848 individuals; the median individual subscription period was 4.36 years.
- The SKDB included health checkup data of 2,469,648 records from 654,035 individuals and care-service recipient data for 283,537 individuals.
- The SKDB may be better for addressing health-care issues of an older population and unclarified epidemiological issues than conventional cohorts.
Volume 32, Issue 7 (July 2022)
- The present study demonstrated a U-shaped association between non-fasting TG and CVD mortality in a Japanese general population.
- In the analysis stratified by age, lower levels of non-fasting TG had a stronger impact on increased risk for CVD mortality among individuals with age ≧65 years, on the contrary, higher levels of non-fasting TG had a stronger impact among those with age <65 years.
- Our findings suggest that the desirable management of non-fasting TG might differ according to age.
- The incidence of type 2 diabetes differs considerably across ethnic groups.
- Obesity confers a higher type 2 diabetes risk in persons of Asian ancestry.
- The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes.
- The ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat appeared most important among Japanese Americans.
- Early detection efforts can be focused on persons with abdominal adiposity.
- Chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression can be caused by various pathophysiological factors, including diabetes, hypertension, and systemic immune disorders, but whether consciousness of healthy behaviors is also associated with CKD progression has not been fully examined.
- The transtheoretical model (TTM), also called the stages of change model, has been used to assess an individual’s readiness to adopt a new, healthier behavior, and we investigated connections between TTM-based stages and a decrease of 30% or more in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the future.
- Compared with the risk associated with the precontemplation stage (stage 1), the preparation, action, and maintenance stages (stages 3, 4, and 5), were associated with a lower risk of eGFR decline.
- Changing the TTM stages and their healthy behaviors might reduce the progression of eGFR reduction.
- The probability of the onset of subjective cognitive complaints was significantly higher among participants with a decline in oral status.
- The probability was highest among participants with swallowing difficulty.
- Maintaining good oral health possibly prevents the development of subjective cognitive complaints, which can increase the risk of future dementia.
- Stunting prevalence is commonly used for assessing undernutrition in children under five years at the population level.
- Short parental stature (especially maternal), a non-modifiable risk factor, is one of the strongest determinants of child stunting.
- The component of the prevalence of stunting explained by maternal height varies widely between countries.
- We find that maternal height-standardized prevalence of stunting correlates substantially better than the traditional measure of stunting with other measures of child health.
- Regardless of living arrangement, psychological distress among ordinary citizens increased during the early phase of the pandemic.
- Since then, psychological distress levels have improved among those who live with others.
- Whereas those living alone are persistently at a severer level of psychological level from the early to middle phases of pandemic.
Volume 32, Issue 6 (June 2022)
- In Cox proportional hazards model, we found a linear relation between the total number of leisure activities and mortality hazard (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.93, 95% confidence interval: 0.92, 0.95) in a cohort of older Japanese adults.
- Engagement in leisure activities involving physical activity, as well as group-based interactions, showed the strongest associations with lowered mortality.
- Engagement in cultural leisure activities and solitary leisure activities were not associated with all-cause mortality.
- In rural areas, fewer older adults were homebound in communities with higher civic participation.
- In rural areas, fewer older adults were homebound in with suitable parks or pavements for walking and exercising.
- Appropriately built environments in the neighborhood and community level social capital may reduce homebound status in older adults.
- Infants with cleft lip and palate as well as those with cleft lip only were significantly associated with an increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections, whereas those with cleft palate only were not.
- When accumulated breastfeeding duration was added to the model, the risk of lower respiratory tract infections in infants with cleft lip and palate was decreased.
- The sample size of infants with orofacial clefts was relatively small. A high degree of uncertainty of the current results should be noted.
- The incidence of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia was significantly higher in evacuees than non-evacuees after the disaster.
- Evacuation is an independent risk factor for the incidence of hyper-LDL cholesterolemia after adjusting various lifestyle factors.
- It is important to provide periodic health check-ups and lifestyle recommendations for evacuees in the future.
- Previous studies have linked working long hours and negative health outcomes.
- We focused on long-term sickness absence (LTSA) due to mental health problems.
- Results showed a U-shaped association between overtime working hours and LTSA.
- Engaging in excessive overtime work was linked with a higher risk of LTSA.
- Individuals working 45-79 hours/month of overtime work were at a lower risk of LTSA.
- We examined the relationship between diet variety and neighborhood food environments among elderly people living in rural Japan.
- The results of multivariate regression analysis showed a significant trend toward greater distance from home to the nearest food store and low diet variety.
- There were significant trends between the greater distance to each supermarkets and convenience stores and low diet variety but was not significant in small food store.
- In sub-analyses by the food groups, distance to food store was significantly associated with less frequent consumption of meat and fruit.
- The specific interventions may be needed for areas at high risk of low diet variety such as location far away from food store especially supermarket or convenience store.
Volume 32, Issue 5 (May 2022)
- This study explored the metabolic risk of the conventional lipids and remnant lipids.
- The remnant lipid profiles have heterogeneity for the risk of CHD and IS by the particle size of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins.
- The different TGLs presented positive and negative effects for different CVD that suggest not all remnant lipids was harmful that required intervention.
- This research provides causal evidence for potential intervention targets of remnant lipids.
- We aimed to explore the causal inference of expanded dental insurance on older adults’ chewing ability using multi-group interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) model.
- We used data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted from 2007 to 2016–2018.
- The ITS analysis showed that chewing difficulty decreased annually by 0.93% and 0.38% after the policy extension in older than 65 and younger than 65, respectively.
- Chewing difficulty decreased over time in the both eligible and ineligible groups after the expansion of dental insurance in South Korea. These trends appear to be attributable to forces external to changes in dental insurance benefits.
- These trends appear to be attributable to forces external to changes in dental insurance benefits.
- Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) are enzymes associated with diabetes mellitus (DM) prevalence.
- We examined whether ALT and GGT enzymes combined is associated with the prevalence of DM regardless of obesity in a general Japanese population.
- High ALT and GGT levels are associated with DM prevalence in obese and non-obese participants.
- This finding suggests that correcting ALT and GGT levels and controlling obesity are important for the prevention of DM.
- The Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS) is a nationwide birth cohort study investigating environmental effects on children’s health and development. A Sub-Cohort Study has measured extended exposure and outcomes by randomly selecting a subgroup from the JECS Main Study.
- Participants are followed up at 1.5 and 3 years old for home visits, and 2, 4, 6 and 8 years old for developmental/medical examination. The details of protocols after age 10 are under discussion.
- Of 10,302 selected children, 5,017 participated. The profiles of the participating mothers, fathers and children did not substantially differ between the Main Study and Sub-Cohort Study.
- The JECS Sub-Cohort Study offers a platform for investigating associations between environmental exposure and outcomes.
Short Communication
Association Between Long-term Weight Change Since Midlife and Risk of Incident Disabling Dementia Among Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study
Association Between Long-term Weight Change Since Midlife and Risk of Incident Disabling Dementia Among Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study
- Previous studies indicated weight loss was associated with dementia among Caucasians, but it remained unclear among Asians.
- Our study is the first to report the association between weight loss and incident dementia among elderly Japanese.
- Our study suggests that a ≤-3.5kg weight loss was associated with a higher risk of incident dementia.
Volume 32, Issue 4 (April 2022)
- Outcomes of social implementation should be carefully set while staying close to the field and achieving consensus on which issues should be solved.
- It is important to design social implementation that can repeat the loop of practice and evaluation using data.
- The cycle of retaining new system functions that worked well and improving those that did not is repeated quickly from research to social implementation.
- When implementing a product in a society, researchers must always create an exit strategy to expand the product’s implementation and maximize social impact.
- A sustainable service team as research and development (SSTRD) model should be developed for social implementation.
- Food-induced anaphylaxis is a serious disease with a risk of death.
- We identified 9,079 patients from the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination Database who were admitted for treatment for FIA from April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2017.
- The most common causative food of FIA among patients aged 0–3, 4–6, 7–19 and ≥ 20 years old was hen’s egg, cow’s milk, peanuts and wheat, respectively.
- Taking measures to prevent peanut allergies in school is important.
- No large epidemiological study on women of Asian ancestry have studied whether birth weight is associated with risk of complications during pregnancy.
- Utilizing a large cross-sectional database, we observed higher risk of pregnancy induced hypertension among Japanese women born with lower birthweight.
- The risk of GDM was significantly higher among women born with birthweight of 1500-2500 grams compared to those born with 2500-3500 grams, albeit non-significant association among women in other birthweight categories.
- Informal caregiving (childcare, nursing care, dual care) could negatively affect caregivers’ health due to multiple burden.
- However, no previous research studied the health effects of combining these different types of informal caregiving.
- We assessed self-rated health (SRH) of informal caregivers using the nationally representative 2013 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions data.
- Nursing and dual caregivers were more likely to have poor SRH than non-caregivers; dual caregivers showed the highest odds ratio among all groups (no care, childcare, nursing care, and dual care).
- The association between types of informal caregiving and SRH was not different by socio-economic conditions.
- In our cohort study in Japan, dual users of both cigarettes and HTPs, tended to smoke/use more tobacco products when they started to use HTPs.
- FEV1 appears to have declined more strongly in these dual users than in the combustible cigarette-only smokers and HTP-only users.
- Individuals who switched to HTP-only use a mean of 1.7 years before had a similar reduction in FEV1 as those who had exclusively smoked cigarettes.
- This study could provide evidence that dual users should be addressed as a high-risk group when tobacco policies for HTPs are considered.
- There is currently insufficient COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant women in Japan.
- To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of vaccine hesitancy among pregnant women in Japan.
- To lessen vaccine hesitancy in pregnant women, information about COVID-19 vaccination’s safety and efficacy during pregnancy should be disseminated.
- During Apr-Sep 2020, COVID-19-related income loss, money shortage, and financial anxiety predicted deterioration of physical/mental health in Japan.
- Regardless of whether pre-existing or newly induced, money shortage and financial anxiety were associated with adverse health outcomes.
- Financial exploitation was associated with deterioration of physical/mental health only among non-working individuals.
Volume 32, Issue 3 (March 2022)
- We conducted a 10-year prospective study of exogenous hormone reproductive use by Japanese nurses.
- The prevalence of oral contraceptive use was 6%.
- The prevalence of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use was 13.8% and the median duration of HRT use was 2 years.
- Of the HRT users, 66.2% started HRT between the ages of 45 and 54 years.
- Our large cohort study aimed to elucidate the association between hemoglobin concentration and stroke in Japanese community residents.
- A low hemoglobin concentration increased the risk of stroke.
- SAH most strongly influenced the risk of stroke.
- Less than 60% of countries in the WHO European Region had nationwide legislation on e-cigarette use.
- More European Union than non-European Union countries legislated e-cigarette use.
- Countries had different number of places covered by e-cigarette use legislation, and education facilities were the most protected place by the legislation.
- There was a moderate level of challenges for adopting e-cigarette use legislation.
- Countries may need different assistance in dealing with the issues encountered while enacting and enforcing the e-cigarette use regulations.
Short Communication
Use and Awareness of Heated Tobacco Products in Europe
Use and Awareness of Heated Tobacco Products in Europe
- In our large pan-European cross-sectional study, heated tobacco products (HTPs) use was still limited in 2017-2018 among the general population.
- However, dual use of HTPs with other tobacco products, their high use among younger generations and the interest of non-smokers are worrying.
- These results indicate the need for close monitoring in terms of prevalence and user characteristics.
Short Communication
The Association Between Sleeping Pill Use and Metabolic Syndrome in an Apparently Healthy Population in Japan: JMS-II Cohort Study
The Association Between Sleeping Pill Use and Metabolic Syndrome in an Apparently Healthy Population in Japan: JMS-II Cohort Study
- Compared to non-users, sleeping pill users with a short sleep duration had a 3-fold higher risk of metabolic syndrome.
- The frequency of sleeping pill use was positively associated with the prevalence of metabolic syndrome.
- It also increased the risk of metabolic syndrome components such as obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and glucose intolerance.
- Attention must be paid to the metabolic status and atherosclerosis risk among sleeping pill users with a short sleep duration.
Volume 32, Issue 2 (February 2022)
- Systematic scoping review was conducted to examine the effectiveness of online peer support groups on maternal and child well-being.
- Our review on 21 studies revealed that mothers received informational and emotional support and felt a sense of connection and community.
- Although some positive effects on mothers’ mental well-being were found, the effects of online-based peer support groups were inconclusive.
- The maternal baseline profile and perinatal data of participating mothers and infants of The Tohoku Medical Megabank Project Birth and Three-Generation Cohort Study were demonstrated.
- The baseline maternal sociodemographic characteristics, results of prenatal screening tests, and obstetric outcomes were analyzed according to the maternal age group.
- A total of 23,406 pregnancies involving 23,730 fetuses resulted in 23,143 live births.
- The distribution of maternal baseline characteristics and the range of perinatal outcomes according to maternal age group were clearly demonstrated.
- This cohort study can provide strategic information for creating breakthroughs in the developmental origins of health and diseases by collaborative data visiting or sharing.
- Our baseline data consisted of 19,420 patients requiring tertiary care or ICU or HCU admission to the ED at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University.
- Among non-Japanese patients, there were more anaphylaxis, burn, and infectious disease diagnoses and less cardiovascular diagnoses compared to Japanese patients.
- When compared with the Japanese patient sample, there were significantly more anaphylaxis diagnoses for the Caucasian and Hispanic group as well as the East Asian group, whereas the South/Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern group had significantly more burn and overdose diagnoses.
- All non-Japanese anaphylaxis cases were food-induced, of which 71% were triggered by the Japanese traditional “soba” noodles, fish, or shellfish.
- There were no notable patient care outcome differences between Japanese and non-Japanese in a tertiary emergency care setting.
- We examined the association between marital transitions and vegetable intake.
- The findings showed a decline in vegetable intake among widowed participants.
- There is a need to promote dietary counseling according to marital situation.
- A 60-case measles outbreak occurred in Yamagata, Japan in 2017.
- Analysis of temporal data allowed us to assess the reproduction number over generations.
- Using a transmission network, variance in the number of secondary transmissions was shown to have declined over time.
- High viral shedding from the throat was identified as a potential predictor of transmissibility.
- Serum of 23,234 visitors to Tokyo hospitals from September 2020 through March 2021 was tested for IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
- The overall anti–SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence among all participants was 1.83% (95% CI, 1.66–2.01%).
- After adjusting for population age and sex, the estimated seroprevalence in Tokyo in March 2021 was 3.40%.
- The estimated number of people with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 3.9-fold higher than the number of confirmed cases.
Volume 32, Issue 1 (January 2022)
- Parental working conditions were associated with sedentary behavior of children.
- Children with mothers who worked longer or fathers who did not work had prolonged sedentary time.
- When limited to children whose fathers worked, there was no statistically significant association between children’s sedentary time and paternal working hours.
- Supplementing the shortages in resources for childcare may be necessary among families with diverse parental working conditions.
- Considerable effort has been devoted to reducing occupational injury globally. However, little is known about psychiatric consequences occurring after such injury, particularly measures for preventing such conditions.
- We used a nationally representative cohort to determine the psychiatric consequences among workers with occupational injury, nonoccupational injury, and no injury. Compared with workers with no injury, workers with occupational injury had a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders, similar to workers with nonoccupational injury.
- In contrast to general belief, time did not attenuate these psychiatric conditions, even up to 10 years after injury.
- Japanese health insurance claims data were used to estimate the incidence of mumps deafness reported during 2005–2017.
- The overall incidence of mumps deafness per 10,000 mumps cases was 15.0.
- The incidence was 8.4 times higher in 16–64-year-olds than in 0–15-year-olds and 7.2 times higher in 6–15-year-olds than in 0–5-year-olds.
- Peak age at onset was 6–15 years, followed by 26–35 years, indicating that these two age groups are at highest risk for developing mumps deafness.
- This study is the first to verify Japan’s Clinical Trials Act’s (CTA) impact on number of clinical studies using interrupted time-series analysis.
- Trends and levels of the monthly numbers of new clinical studies decreased significantly during one year following the CTA implementation.
- In the analysis using the multigroup ITSA, the trend decreased especially for the studies with smaller sample sizes, interventional designs, and nonprofit funding sponsors.
- Establishing a new system to promote clinical studies in Japan, while ensuring research transparency and safety, is vital.
- We aimed to estimate prevalence and incidence of severe diverse symptoms among Japanese adolescents without a history of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.
- A descriptive nationwide epidemiological survey was conducted in Japan in 2016, covering a 6-month target period from July to December, 2015.
- The 6-month period prevalence and annual incidence among girls aged 12–18 years without HPV vaccination was 20.2 and 7.3 per 100,000, respectively.
- Adolescent Japanese girls without HPV vaccination also visited hospitals with diverse symptoms similar to those of girls following HPV vaccination.
- Our findings predict the medical demands for coincident diverse symptoms, which are temporally associated with but not caused by HPV vaccination of Japanese adolescents.
Study Profile
Study Design and Baseline Profiles of Participants in the Tianjin Birth Cohort (TJBC) in China Study Profile
Study Design and Baseline Profiles of Participants in the Tianjin Birth Cohort (TJBC) in China Study Profile
- The Tianjin Birth Cohort Study (TJBC) is a large-scale prospective cohort in northern China, aiming to explore the link between early-life exposures and health consequences.
- Pregnant women and their spouses are recruited at early pregnancy, and followed at mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy, delivery, 42 days after delivery, 6 months after delivery, and each year until 6 year-old.
- A diverse range of biological samples are periodically collected including blood, urine, faeces, placental tissues, products of conception and breastmilk.
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