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no abstract available.
ABSTRACT
<b>Objective:</b> Early life events connected with the risk of later disease can occur not only <i>in utero</i>, but also in infancy. In study of the developmental origins of health and disease, the relationship between infantile growth patterns and adolescent body mass index and blood pressure is one of the most important issues to verify.<br><b>Materials and Methods:</b> We analyzed the correlation of current body mass index and systolic blood pressure of 168 female college students with their growth patterns <i>in utero</i> and in infancy.<br><b>Results:</b> Body mass index and systolic blood pressure in adolescence showed positive correlations with changes in weight-for-age z scores between 1 and 18 months but not with those between 18 and 36 months. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that both change in weight-for-age z scores from 1 to 18 months and body mass index at 1 month were significantly and independently associated with systolic blood pressure in adolescence. Body mass index at 36 months was positively correlated with body mass index in adolescence, while body mass index at birth was negatively correlated with body mass index in adolescence.<br><b>Conclusion:</b> Our findings shows that restricted growth <i>in utero</i> and accelerated weight gain in early infancy are associated with the cardiovascular risk factors of high systolic blood pressure and high body mass index in adolescence. In Japan, an increasing proportion of low birth weight infants and accelerated catch-up growth after birth have been observed in recent decades. This might be an alarming harbinger of an increase in diseases related to the developmental origins of health and disease in Japan.
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Purpose: Many types of antihistamines used for the treatment of allergic rhinitis induce drowsiness as a side effect. Whether or not patients taking the internal drugs know of this untoward effect is a matter of importance. Recently we conducted a questionnaire survey to know how many patients are aware of this.Method: The subjects were 257 patients who visited our hospital for treatment of alergic rhinitis and took the prescription from February through March this year. The patients filled in a questionnaire given at the window of the dispensary. All the participants in this survey gave their informed consent.Results: Effective replies (90.3%) were obtained from 232 patients (mean age: 53.5±17.5; sex: 85 males and 147 females). Of those respondents, 45 individuals (19.9%) said they did not know that the antihistamines produce drowsiness. Furthermore, the survey found that 24 out of the 45 individuals were actually taking the type of antihistamine that caused drowsiness and 21 individuals were not given any explanation of the side effect by their doctors. The patients said that if they knew of the side effect they would not have taken the medicine. Moreover, it was found that 10 out of the 21 patients drove their cars while they felt drowsy.Conclusions: The survey revealed the hard fact that the drowsiness as side reaction the patients might have after taking antihistamines was made light of. The findings brought home to us the importance of giving clear directions to the patients about the medicine and the precaution against the side effects.
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Surveys and Questionnaires , Histamine AntagonistsABSTRACT
Iyaku Bungyo means separation of dispensing from medical practice. Under this system, physicians provide outpatients with prescriptions, if need be, after examinations. The patients visit neighborhood drugstores and produce the prescriptions to pharmacists, who are authorized to accept patients covered by health insurance and to make up prescriptions. The prescribed medicines will be given to the patients in exchange for the payment. The pharmacists will also instruct the customers how to take in the prescribed medicines properly. The system has been so designed as to improve the quality of health care services with the physicians and pharmacists performing their respective roles as the specialists. However, the government office is promoting the Iyaku Bungyo system in favor of the pharmacies outside the hospitals in the name of the containment of medical costs, charging that the medical institutions prescribe and dispense so many kinds and quantities of medicines the patients can hardly take in, simply to make large profits from a comfortable margin between the market price for each pharmaceutical and the price at which it is actually purchased. Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare officials and insurers have trumpeted the system as if it were an ideal scheme to curb health care costs. In reality, however, medical expenses have been boosted up. It can be taken for granted that the expenditure on national health care is increasing year after year with the population of the elderly on the rise and progress in medical technology. Notwithstanding, it is an important task to hold down increases in the cost of health care with the advent of an era of an aging population.
