Highlights

Volume 36, Issue 1-2 (2026)

Poverty in fourth grade was associated with lower child resilience in sixth grade.
A high number of books reading books in fourth grade was associated with higher child resilience in sixth grade.
Children who read four or more books per week were as resilient as non-poverty children.
An accessible reading environment for socioeconomically disadvantaged children may contribute to their subsequent development of resilience.

We identified factors associated with participation in seroepidemiological surveys .
Female, higher education, higher income, and larger household size were associated with increased participation in seroepidemiological surveys.
Vaccine hesitancy and perceived higher coronavirus disease risk were associated with lower survey participation.
Non-response bias may overestimate seroprevalence in vaccinated populations.
Our findings inform strategies to enhance participation in future seroepidemiological studies.

Cohort studies in the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project included a self-administered food frequency questionnaire (TMM-FFQ) for adults.
The validity of the TMM-FFQ compared with serum concentrations was reasonable for α-carotene, β-carotene, and β-cryptoxanthin among men.
The validity of the TMM-FFQ compared with serum concentrations was not reasonable for lycopene among men.
The validity of the TMM-FFQ compared with serum concentrations was not reasonable for carotenoids among women.

Iwate PGS Assessment and Risk Communication Study aims to evaluate behavioral and psychological impact of polygenic-risk communication in ischemic stroke.
2,088 working-age participants were enrolled in 2023 in Iwate Prefecture, half of whom received the risk report in 2024 as the intervention group.
The main hypothesis is that returning polygenic risk information will prompt behavioral changes to reduce non-genetic risk factors for the disease.
This is the first large-scale cohort study in Japan on polygenic risk communication.
The study is embedded in the biobank of the TMM Project, and participant data and biospecimens have been securely stored.

This systematic review examined evidence on prospective relations of sedentary behavior with health outcomes among Japanese adults.
Twenty-eight studies were included, most of which assessed sedentary behavior using self-reported television viewing time.
Most studies reported at least partial evidence of harmful associations between sedentary behavior and health outcomes.
The associations mostly remained significant when controlling various indicators of physical activity.
Due to the limited number and moderate quality of studies, definitive conclusions on health outcomes and dose-response relationships cannot be drawn.

The performance of the simplified 13-item salt check sheet salt check sheet (13 items) as a quantitative diagnostic tool was evaluated.
The salt check sheet score was compared with salt intake, determined by 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, among 154 middle-aged Japanese participants.
In males, the area under the receiver operating characteristicsROC curve (AUC) was 0.702, confirming its value as a diagnostic tool for salt intake of ≥10 g/day.
In females, when using only three specific items, the salt check sheet achieved a moderate AUC of 0.700.

This study examines the interaction between community social capital and socioeconomic factors on loneliness among older adults.
Social cohesion and reciprocity are negatively associated with loneliness.
The interaction between educational attainment and community civic participation affects loneliness, with higher educational attainment leading to lower loneliness at higher levels of civic participation.
Studies suggest that interventions should consider individual-level social factors such as education to address loneliness.

This observational study aimed to examine the association between adherence to the Japanese meal-based dietary guideline (Healthy Meal) and all-cause and cause-specific mortalities.
Data from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study with a 19.0-year follow-up were analyzed, including 40,222 men and 47,350 women aged 45–75 years, with adherence to Healthy Meal assessed through dietary intake from a validated food frequency questionnaire.
Higher adherence to Healthy Meal was associated with a lower risk of all-cause in both sexes; hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were 0.86 [(95% confidence interval (CI), 0.82–0.91]) for men and 0.92 (95% CI, 0.87–0.98) for women.
Significant associations between higher adherence to Healthy Meal and a lower risk of cerebrovascular disease and respiratory disease mortalities were observed in both sexes, whereas significant associations were observed with cancer, cardiovascular disease, and heart disease mortalities were observed only inin only men.

This study aimed to explore the association between baseline adipocyte insulin resistance (Adipo-IR) indexAdipo-IR and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)T2DM, stratified by body mass indexBMI category in middle-aged Japanese men and women.
We analyzed 3,257 (men 2,501, women 756) Japanese workers, aged 35–-66 years who were followed up for 17 years.
Compared with the lowest tertile of Adipo-IR, T2DM risk was significantly increased among the highest tertile category in overweight/obese men (hazard ratio [HR]HR: 2.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]CI, 1.76–- 4.90) and women (HR: 4.24, 95% CI, 1.08-16.61).
Magnitude of association was stronger among overweight/obese women.