Association between socioeconomic status and prolonged television viewing time in a general Japanese population: NIPPON DATA2010

BACKGROUND@#It has been pointed out that prolonged television (TV) viewing is one of the sedentary behaviors that is harmful to health; however, the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and prolonged TV viewing time has not been sufficiently investigated in Japan.@*METHODS@#The study population are the participants of NIPPON DATA2010, which is a prospective cohort study of the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2010 in Japan. They were residents in 300 randomly selected areas across Japan. This study included 2752 adults. SES was classified according to the employment status, educational attainment, living status, and equivalent household expenditure (EHE). Prolonged TV viewing time was defined as more than or equal to 4 h of TV viewing per day. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of SES with prolonged TV viewing time.@*RESULTS@#The mean TV viewing time was 2.92 h in all participants. Of 2752 participants, 809 (29.4%) prolonged TV viewing, and the mean TV viewing time of them was 5.61 h. The mean TV viewing time in participants without prolonged TV viewing time was 1.81 h. The mean TV viewing time was prolonged as age classes increased and significantly longer in aged ≥60 years. Prolonged TV viewing time was associated with not working for all age classes and sexes. Only among women, education attainment and living status were also associated with prolonged TV viewing time. For education attainment, the lower the received years of education, the higher odds ratios (OR) of prolonged TV viewing time. For living status, in women aged <60 years, living with others had a significantly higher OR compared to living with spouse. On the other hand, in women aged ≥60 years, living alone had a significantly higher OR. EHE did not have any significant associations with prolonged TV viewing time.@*CONCLUSIONS@#In a general Japanese population, it should be noted that the association between SES and prolonged TV viewing time differed by age and sex. Particularly, it must draw attention to the prolonged TV viewing in elderly. The intervention in order to shorten TV viewing time needs to consider these attributes.

Characteristics of smoking cessation in former smokers in a rural area of Japan

Japan has a relatively high prevalence of smoking in men. Despite the importance of behavioral patterns on successful smoking cessation, only limited information is available in Japan. The present study collected data from former smokers in a rural community in Japan in order to identify health status at the time of cessation, predominant motivating factors, and the role of smoking cessation aids in individuals who successfully stopped smoking. This cross-sectional study collected data using a self-reported questionnaire from 149 randomly-selected former smokers [119 men and 30 women, aged 20-79 years] who were residents of Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. Of the male participants, 14.3% quit due to serious personal health problems, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, or respiratory tract disease, while 20.8% of former smokers experienced mild personal health problems or were pregnant at the time of cessation. An approximately equal number stopped smoking due to fear of illness in the absence of immediate health concerns. Compared to personal health motivations, a smaller number of male smokers quit due to anti-smoking social pressure or expense. We also observed a marked increase in former smokers who quit for these reasons in recent years. Smoking lost its appeal in 19.3% of male and 10.0% of female smokers. Approximately, 95% of quitters did not utilize health professional counseling or pharmacological therapy. Personal health concerns in former smokers in Nanao, Japan were the predominant motivation for quitting smoking, with the vast majority of former smokers achieving successful smoking cessation by themselves

Relationship between urinary cadmium and mortality in habitants of a cadmium-polluted area: a 22-year follow-up study in Japan / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Several studies have suggested that the exposure to cadmium (Cd) increased mortalities from renal diseases, cardiovascular diseases and malignant neoplasm, including lung cancer and prostate cancer among inhabitants living in Cd-polluted areas and factory workers. This study aimed to assess the influence of environmental exposure to Cd on long term outcome of inhabitants living in an area polluted by Cd.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A 22-year follow-up study was conducted with 3119 inhabitants (1403 men and 1716 women) living in the Cd polluted Kakehashi River basin in Japan. The subjects were divided into 4 groups according to the amount of urinary Cd level (< 3.0 µg/g creatinine (Cr), 3.0 - 4.9 µg/g Cr, 5.0 - 9.9 µg/g Cr, and ≥ 10.0 µg/g Cr). Mortality was calculated by the person-years method. Hazards ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were assessed by the Cox's proportional hazard model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with urinary Cd < 3.0 µg/g Cr group, the HR of 5.0 - 9.9 µg/g Cr and ≥ 10.0 µg/g Cr groups were significantly increased after adjustment for age in both sexes: 1.24 (95%CI 1.01 - 1.51) and 1.48 (95%CI 1.17 - 1.90) for men; 1.64 (95%CI 1.17 - 2.28) and 1.78 (95%CI 1.27 - 2.50) for women. The most frequent cause of death was malignant neoplasm in men and cardiovascular diseases in women. The significant increase in mortality risk for cardiovascular diseases was observed in the subjects with ≥ 10 µg/g Cr in both sexes: 1.79 for men (95%CI 1.02 - 3.12) and 2.38 for women (95%CI 1.11 - 5.07). When the subjects were divided into 2 categories (< 20 µg/g Cr and ≥ 20 µg/g Cr), the HR of the urinary Cd ≥ 20 µg/g Cr group for nephritis and nephrosis were 4.82 (95%CI 1.07 - 21.61) in men and 7.92 (95%CI 1.77 - 35.33) in women, respectively. The significant increase was not observed for malignant neoplasm.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>These results suggest a dose-response relationship between Cd body burden and mortality for cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases and nephritis and nephrosis.</p>