Highlights
Volume 35, Issue 1-4 (2025)
Issue 4 (April 2025)
Issue 3 (March 2025)
Issue 2 (February 2025)
Issue 1 (January 2025)
Volume 35, Issue 4 (April 2025)
Special Article
- This tutorial paper summarizes when and how to split the follow-up time in the analysis of epidemiological or clinical studies with follow-ups.
- Typical situations to split the follow-up time include estimating the outcome incidence rate (ratio) according to specific follow-up time periods.
- The proportional hazards assumption in Cox models can also be assessed by splitting the follow-up time.
- This tutorial also covers the situations to deal with time-varying exposures and confounders, as well as self-controlled case series analysis.
- By splitting the follow-up time, the “wide-format” type data is transformed into the “long-format” type data.
- This study investigated body mass index (BMI), height, and incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) among a Japanese population.
- Both lower and higher BMI was significantly associated with HNC, and this U-shaped association was also observed among never smokers.
- No statistically significant associations were observed between height and HNC risk.
Associations of Parental Education With Children’s Infectious Diseases and Their Mediating Factors: The Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS)
- For varicella, mumps, and influenza, the higher fathers’ education level, the lower the infection incidence in children up to 3 years of age.
- Higher vaccination rates and income, and lower rates of daycare attendance and household smoking mediated this association.
- Mothers’ education level was less associated with lower infection rates in children compared to fathers’ education level due to higher rates of daycare attendance.
- Both income-mediated and non-income-mediated effects were found in the relationship between parental education and child voluntary vaccination.
- The infection rates for diseases covered by routine immunizations were low and not associated with parental education.
- The cessation of caregiving relieved caregivers’ psychological distress.
- More benefits exist for female caregivers than for male caregivers.
- The unfavorable impact of co-residence with a care-receiving parent diminished quickly.
- The impact of long-hour daily care, extended duration, and lack of social activity persisted.
- In 7 years, we followed up on more than 30,000 Shanghai residents in China.
- We observed the astonishingly high prevalence of 36.8% of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) at baseline.
- A high incidence rate of 8.4/100 person-years and active recovery of 11.4/100 person-years were observed.
- Weight loss and serum lipid reduction were helpful in both preventing and reversing MASLD.
Short Communication
Comparison of Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Taiwan Biobank Participants With Nonparticipants
- Taiwan Biobank cohort exhibits disparities in sociodemographic and health-related attributes compared to the general population.
- Taiwan Biobank participants exhibited higher mortality rates yet lower cancer incidence.
- Despite limitations in representativeness, the Taiwan Biobank's size and exposure measures offer valuable insights into associations between exposures and health conditions.
Volume 35, Issue 3 (March 2025)
- Cohort studies in the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project used a self-administered food frequency questionnaire (TMM-FFQ) for adults.
- The percentages of participants who chose the “constitutionally unable to eat/drink it” TMM-FFQ option were non-negligible for some food groups.
- Comparison of food group intakes derived from the TMM-FFQ and those from food records showed that the TMM-FFQ has reasonable validity.
- The TMM-FFQ with the “constitutionally unable to eat/drink it” option showed reasonable reproducibility for food group intakes.
- The TMM-FFQ with the “constitutionally unable to eat/drink it” option seems suitable for use in the TMM cohort studies.
- All-cause mortality risk was not increased after a partner’s cancer diagnosis among men and women.
- Suicide risk significantly increased after a partner’s cancer diagnosis among men, and it persisted for more than 5 years.
- All-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease (RD) and externally-caused mortality risks increased after a partner’s death among men, but not among women.
- CVD and RD mortality risks after a partner’s death among men differed by smoking status. They increased among smokers, but not among never-smokers.
- Low bB reast cancer (BC) examination rates (9/1,000) and cervical cancer (CC) tests rates (20/1,000) are very low in India.
- Rural women experience greater socioeconomic inequality in BC and CC testing than urban peers.
- Highest uptake is observed in the Southern India, with lower rates in Eastern and Northern regions.
- Education-driven inequalities in BC and CC testing are evident across all regions.
- Determinants include: Higher education, socioeconomic status, overweight, community education, and South/urban residence.
Short Communication
Validation of Self-reported Medical Condition in the Taiwan Biobank
- The concordance between self-reports in the Taiwan Biobank and the claims records generally showed moderate agreement for most clinical diagnoses.
- The concordance was higher among those with higher education attainment and lower among married individuals.
- Integrating complementary databases from the claims database can enhance accuracy through customized algorithms.
Statistical Data
Non-cancer-related Deaths in Cancer Survivors: A Nationwide Population-based Study in Japan
- Non-cancer-related disease death increased over time, from 10.2% at 6 months to 31.6% at 4 years post-diagnosis.
- Heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and pneumonia were the leading causes of non-cancer-related mortality.
- The suicide mortality risk lost significance in males and females 2- and 2.5-years post-diagnosis, respectively.
- Non-cancer deaths among cancer patients increased over time, emphasizing the need for managing comorbidities.
Statistical Data
Changes in Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Descriptive Analysis of National Health Statistics up to 2022
- In Japan, the annual all-cause age-standardized mortality rate increased 6.0% for men and 6.5% for women, respectively, and increased in all prefectures between 2021 and 2022.
- Primary contributors to the increase in annual all-cause age-standardized mortality rates included coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) COVID-19, senility, heart disease, malignant neoplasms (for women).
- The leading contributors to the increase in 2022 were COVID-19 (+29.1 per 100,000 people for men and +13.4 per 100,000 people for women) and senility (+14.1 per 100,000 people for men and +12.5 per 100,000 people for women).
- Continuous monitoring of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on public health and the healthcare system is necessary.
Volume 35, Issue 2 (February 2025)
Review Article
- This systematic review aimed to determine seasonal variations in dietary intake in Japanese adults.
- The reported seasonal variations were inconsistent across studies for most nutrients and food groups.
- Meta-analyses showed significant seasonal differences in mean intakes of vegetables, fruits, and potatoes in five out of six comparisons.
- Most of the differences in mean intakes between seasons were attributed to the heterogeneity of the included studies, not just seasonal variations.
- At-risk drinking prevalence in Italy: 26.4% pre-lockdown, 23.4% during, stabilized at 30.0% post-lockdown.
- Findings indicate unfavorable post-pandemic alcohol trends, emphasizing specific groups at increased risk.
- Economic status linked to at-risk consumption, with a significant downward trend.
- Higher rates of at-risk drinking were observed among younger individuals, women with higher economic status and married individuals.
- Higher vulnerability was observed among those with anxiety/depressive symptoms, psychotropic drug users, and tobacco consumers.
- To date, a simple assessment tool to evaluate early low nutrition risk in the general older population has not been available.
- In this study, we developed such an indicator consisting of 13 items with four factors through a rigorous scale development process.
- This indicator showed good internal reliability and criterion-related validity, indicating a potential to evaluate early low nutrition risk.
- We determined the influence of cumulative maternal physical activity during the pre-pregnancy to child-rearing period on children’s physical activity in early childhood in a Japanese population.
- We also compared the influence of maternal physical activity of each stage on children’s physical activity in early childhood.
- The level of cumulative maternal physical activity was positively associated with the level of children’s physical activity at 5.5 years of age.
- Maternal physical activity during pregnancy and at 5.5 years postpartum was positively associated with children’s physical activity at 5.5 years of age.
- Japan exhibits significantly lower mortality from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) than the United States, despite much higher smoking rates among Japanese men.
- We conducted a systemic review and meta-analysis of COPD prevalence in Japan and compared the prevalence in the United States .
- COPD prevalence is consistently over 10% lower in Japan than in the United States across different age groups and sexes.
- Investigating the factors behind Japan's lower COPD burden could inform more effective prevention strategies globally.
- We performed an ecological study to clarify regional disparities in measles vaccination coverage and their associated factors in Japan.
- Data on measles vaccination coverage and potential associated factors for each municipality were obtained from official statistics of Japan.
- Among the municipalities, 54.3% had less than 95.0% measles vaccination coverage.
- Negative binomial regression showed that measles vaccination coverage was positively associated with population density.
- It also showed that measles vaccination coverage was negatively associated with single-father households, mother’s age, and area deprivation index.
Volume 35, Issue 1 (January 2025)
Special Article
- Identifying a sufficient set of confounders is crucial for estimating the causal effect of exposure on outcome.
- We summarize approaches to identifying a sufficient set of confounders from both epidemiological and statistical perspectives.
- We also describe some pitfalls and considerations in confounder selection.
- E-value and robustness value are introduced as approaches to assess the sensitivity to unmeasured confounders.
- Integrating these principles and approaches will enhance our understanding of confounder selection in future epidemiological studies.
- A comprehensive side-by-side comparison of different instrumental variable (IV) methods in binary outcome and continuous exposures with many IVs was performed.
- The findings indicated that the bias associated with these methods could not be fully addressed.
- The use of multiple IV methods (e.g., one method for primary analysis and another for sensitivity analysis) may be helpful.
- We employ disease-mediating mortality separating disease-specific mortality into disease (the mediator) and mortality (the outcome) to characterize the natural course of hepatitis C virus (HCV).
- We identified three liver diseases (eg, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer) and nine non-liver diseases (eg, septicemia, renal diseases, endocrine diseases, hypertension) that mediate HCV-induced mortality and provide the proportion of mediation to reflect their relative contributions.
- For developing countries with limited access to direct-acting antiviral agents, our study may guide health policies in screening for particular diseases (except liver diseases) to reduce the preventable deaths of the HCV-infected population.
- The association between income and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk varies across countries.
- The role of income dynamics in CRC risk is unknown in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) who are at increased risk of colorectal cancer.
- Individuals with T2DM who had persistent low-income status over 5 years or experienced income declines had an elevated CRC risk.
- In contrast, constant high income over 5 years was associated with reduced risk of colorectal cancer.
- This study investigated the association between the patterns of various metabolites and cognitive decline in Japanese community-dwelling older adults.
- Amino acids were protectively associated with cognitive decline, whereas ketone metabolites were associated with higher odds of cognitive decline.
- Metabolome monitoring can be useful for predicting and preventing future cognitive decline.
- We compared self-reported participation in cancer screenings and health checkups with municipality records.
- Self-reported participation in colorectal, stomach, breast, and cervical cancer screenings was moderately valid.
- Self-reported participation in lung cancer screening was underreported and participation in health checkup was overreported.
- Self-reported screening participation should be carefully interpreted to assess the performance of preventive measures.
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