Green tea consumption and influenza infection among Japanese employees.

This study examined the association of green tea consumption with influenza among Japanese workers in the Kanto and Tokai areas. We conducted a case-control study in a cohort of 4302 workers. Consumption frequency of green tea in 2011 and physician-diagnosed influenza that occurred over the winter season from November 2011 through April 2012 were ascertained using a self-administered questionnaire. Two controls matched by company, sex, and age (and checkup date in one company) were randomly selected for each case. Odds ratio of influenza were estimated by conditional logistic regression. One hundred and seventy-nine cases and 353 controls with complete data were included in the analysis. Green tea consumption was significantly associated with decreased odds of developing influenza; the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for green tea consumption of ≥5 cups/week was 0.61 (95% CI 0.39-0.95) compared with <1 cup/week (P for trend = 0.028). When analysis was restricted to cases confirmed using a diagnostic kit, the corresponding value was 0.68 (95% CI 0.39-1.18; P for trend = 0.16). Our data suggest that green tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of influenza. The present findings require confirmation in large-scale prospective studies using diagnostic tool for influenza infection.

[A study on the implementation of stress checks to small-scale workplaces and the taking is effective to promote the implementation].

OBJECTIVES: The Industrial Safety and Health Law implemented in December 2015 mandates that workplaces with more than 50 employees should perform annual stress checks on their employees; workplace with fewer than 50 employees are required only to make an effort to perform such checks. Notably, more than half of all workers in Japan work for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Therefore, the effectiveness of this legislation is compromised by its limited applicability to small-scale workplace. This research examined the extent to which workplaces with 30-49 employees provide mental health measures and stress checks, and considered the effective types of taking to promote the implementation of stress checks in a small-scale workplaces. METHODS: Questionnaires were mailed to workplaces in Aichi Prefecture with 30-49 employees. Data from independent companies were compared with those from branch offices of larger businesses, whereas data from workplaces with and without an individual charged with promoting mental health were also compared. RESULTS: The number of workplaces in the independent group was 290, whereas that in the branch group was 331. In the independent group, 55 workplaces appointed an individual to promote mental health, whereas 235 did not; in the branch group, 102 offices appointed an individual to promote mental health, whereas 229 did not. Compared with independent workplaces, a greater proportion of branch offices not only appointed individuals to promote mental health but also actively engaged in efforts to promote mental health. Indeed, stress checks had been performed in almost half of the branch offices surveyed. The workplaces in both groups that appointed an individual to promote mental health reported more positive efforts in this regard and were more likely to implement stress checks. Our data also suggest that the success of extending mandatory stress checks to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees would be facilitated by appointing skilled individuals to promote the mental health of employees in both groups. Such efforts by independent workplaces could be facilitated by an adequate budget, whereas the availability of experts would be of assistance to branch offices. However, public support for use of such services was low in both groups, and this was especially pronounced in independent workplaces. CONCLUSIONS: A smaller proportion of independent workplaces, compared with branch offices, engaged in not only efforts to promote mental health but also the implementation of stress checks. However, groups with an individual promoting the mental health of employees reported more positive efforts. Encouraging the appointment of individuals charged with promoting employee mental health is expected to lead to a positive approach to stress checking.

Association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with influenza in case-control study nested in a cohort of Japanese employees.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Several intervention studies have examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation on influenza or influenza-like illness, but their results have been inconsistent. We prospectively examined the association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with influenza among Japanese workers. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study in a cohort of workers in 4 companies in the Kanto and Tokai areas of Japan. Physician-diagnosed influenza that occurred during the winter season was ascertained using a self-administered questionnaire. Two controls matched by company, sex, and age (and checkup date in 1 company) were selected for each case. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations at baseline were measured using a competitive protein binding assay. Odds ratio of influenza were estimated by conditional logistic regression with adjustment for covariates. RESULTS: Of 182 cases and 364 controls, 179 cases and 353 controls with complete data were included in the analysis. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were not associated with a significantly lower risk of influenza; the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for the highest (≥30 ng/mL) versus lowest category (<20 ng/mL) was 0.77 (95% confidence interval 0.37-1.59) (P for trend = 0.80). In a subgroup of participants without vaccination, vitamin D sufficiency (≥30 ng/mL) was associated with a significantly lower risk of influenza (odds ratio 0.14; 95% confidence interval 0.03-0.74). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were not appreciably associated with influenza episodes. However, the lower influenza risk associated with vitamin D sufficiency among unvaccinated participants warrants further investigation.

[Problems in Providing Care to Young Workers with Mental Health Disturbance - A Survey Using of the Cases of Workers Who Had Taken Sick Leave Due to Mental Health Disturbance].

In this study we discuss the measures of providing care to young workers with mental health disturbance by analyzing the cases of workers who had taken sick leave due to mental health disturbance. We analyzed 36 cases, collected from 11 occupational physicians, of workers who had taken sick leave due to mental health disturbance, and discuss measures for providing care to such young workers. We organized and classified data containing the details of the care provided to the workers and analyzed the main aspects and problems in providing it. We compared two age groups of workers: a below age 30 group, and an age 30 and above group. We observed that occupational nurses were more frequently the primary persons who dealt with workplace consultations in the below age 30 group (before sick leave: 38.9%; during sick leave: 38.9%) compared to the age 30 and above group (before sick leave: 16.7%, during sick leave: 11.1%). Most of the case providers expressed the opinion that a support system is necessary to help the workers return to work and it is an important factor in providing care to workers who have taken sick leave due to mental health disturbance. Coordination with the families of the workers was also important in the below age 30 group. It might be difficult to assign young workers to suitable workplaces or duties because of their inadequate job skills, lack of sufficient experience, and influence of personal factors on mental health. Our results suggest that it is important to provide appropriate care for young workers with mental health disturbance, such as support by occupational nurses, and to strengthen the collaboration between their families and the workplace staff.

[Characteristics of mental health problems among Japanese young workers and their measures--a cross-sectional survey using an open-ended questionnaire].

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of mental health problems faced by young workers and the effectiveness of measures implemented for improving their mental health. METHOD: We sent anonymous open-ended questionnaires to 386 occupational physicians in Japan, and received questionnaire responses from 109 of them. The questionnaire was comprised of two parts. The first part addressed the age-specific characteristics of workers with mental health problems. The second part focused on the mental health measures implemented for young workers and opinions on their effectiveness. The responses were entered in a database. Frequently appearing words were identified and the number of times of the appearance was counted for each question. We conducted statistical analysis to examine the association between word frequency and age group in the first part. Ten investigators and collaborators of this study arranged the descriptions of the mental health measures for young workers and the opinions on their effectiveness in the second part. RESULTS: For mentally ill subjects in their 20s, we identified a range of frequently occurring words using correspondence analysis. The frequently occurring words were: "personality", "immaturity", "extrapunitive", "developmental disorder", "schizophrenia," "new-type depression", "maladjustment", "entering a company", "society", "superior," and "co-worker", Work-related words, such as "qualitative workloads" and "quantitative workloads", were identified for those in their 30s, and greater numbers of words on life outside of the workplace, such as "home," "child" and "nursing care" were identified for those in their 40s. Among the responses about the types of measures implemented for young workers, education and interviews were most common, and most respondents indicated that the effectiveness of these measures was unknown. A few respondents indicated that coordination between young workers' families and the persons concerned in the workplace, such as their superiors, personnel management staff, and occupational physicians, was useful to encourage their family to provide support. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that mental health problems among young workers are multilaterally affected by personal factors, such as personal maladjustment to their work and, immature or extrapunitive character, mental disorder, or job stressors in the background and in their workplace organization. Strengthening the coordination among young workers' families and the persons concerned in the workplace may be an effective mental health measure for young workers.

Comparison of body mass index, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio for predicting the clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors by age in Japanese workers--Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health study.

BACKGROUND: Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) has been suggested as a better screening tool than body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) for assessing cardiometabolic risk. However, most previous studies did not consider age. METHODS AND RESULTS: Participants were 45,618 men and 8,092 women aged 15-84 years who received periodic health checkups in 9 companies in Japan. Clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors was defined by the existence of 2 or more of high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, and dyslipidemia. In both men and women, unadjusted area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver-operating characteristic curve for WHtR in detecting the clustering of cardiometabolic risk factors was significantly higher than that for either BMI or WC; the AUCs for WHtR, BMI, and WC, respectively, were 0.734, 0.705, and 0.717 in men and 0.782, 0.762, and 0.755 in women. After adjustment for age, however, such differences were not observed; the corresponding values were 0.702, 0.701, and 0.696 in men. In women, the age-adjusted AUC for BMI was slightly higher than for other indices (WHtR, 0.721; BMI, 0.726; WC, 0.707). CONCLUSIONS: The screening performance of WHtR for detecting the clustering cardiometabolic risk factors was not superior to that of BMI.