A smartphone app-based intervention combined with face-to-face sessions for alcohol dependence at internal medicine clinics: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Addressing the limited access to treatments for alcohol dependence, we developed ALM-002, a therapeutic application to be "prescribed" for non-abstinence-oriented treatment in internal medicine settings. Our objective was to preliminarily assess the efficacy and safety of ALM-002.

Methods: In a multicenter, open-label randomized controlled trial, participants aged ≥20 with alcohol dependence and daily alcohol consumption exceeding 60 g for men and 40 g for women, without severe complications, were randomly assigned to either the intervention group using ALM-002 or the treatment-as-usual control group.

Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Smoking Prevalence Among Adolescents.

Importance: Secondhand smoke is a substantial risk factor for youth health globally, including in Japan, where tobacco control policies should be reassessed.

Objective: To assess trends in the prevalence of secondhand smoke exposure among Japanese adolescents from 2008 to 2017 and to examine the association between its frequency and smoking during the study period.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study comprised a nationally representative, self-administered, school-based, cross-sectional survey focusing on tobacco and alcohol use and related factors among students in grades 7 to 12 (ages 12-18 years) in Japan.

Comparison of the responses of cross-sectional web- and paper-based surveys on lifestyle behaviors of Japanese adolescents.

Objective: In Japan, paper-based surveys are currently more effective than web-based surveys. This study compared the response rates and lifestyle behaviors between paper- and web-based surveys conducted among Japanese junior and senior high schools.

Methods: In total, there were 42 and 64 junior and senior high schools, respectively, for the web-based surveys and 20 and 27 junior and senior high schools, respectively, for the paper-based surveys.

Association and dose-response relationship between exposure to alcohol advertising media and current drinking: a nationwide cross-sectional study of Japanese adolescents.

Background: Underage drinking is a public health concern. However, few studies have examined the association between alcoholic beverage advertising and underage drinking, particularly in countries with low underage drinking rates, such as Japan. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship between exposure to advertising in various media and alcohol drinking among Japanese adolescents.

Nonsmoking after simultaneous alcohol abstinence and smoking cessation program was associated with better drinking status outcome in Japanese alcohol-dependent men: A prospective follow-up study.

Background: Growing evidence suggests that intervention for smoking cessation enhances alcohol abstinence in treatment settings for alcohol dependence. However, research in this field is rare in Asians.

Method: We prospectively investigated the association of smoking status with drinking status using 9 surveys mailed during a 12-month period in 198 Japanese alcohol-dependent men (70 never/ex-smokers and 128 smokers) who admitted for the first time and completed a 3-month inpatient program for simultaneous alcohol abstinence and smoking cessation.

Influence of ADHD, especially attention-deficit characteristics, on the course of alcohol-dependent individuals.

Background: While several studies have revealed that neurodevelopmental disorders have a high probability of overlapping with substance use disorders, the effects of neurodevelopmental disorders on the courses of substance use disorders have hardly been examined.

Methods: This study targeted 637 alcohol-dependent individuals who received inpatient treatment and whose drinking situations were followed for 12 months after hospital discharge using mailed questionnaires. The comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and the characteristics associated with the neurodevelopmental disorders were assessed using several measurements at the time of hospital admission.

Alcohol's harm to others in Japan: Different rates for different relationships to the drinker in a 2018 national survey.

Introduction: No study in Japan has investigated alcohol's harm to others (AHTO). Therefore, this study aimed to reveal the situation of AHTO in Japan and examine the factors associated with it based on the relationship with the drinker.

Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was performed in 2018 with 2121 men and 2507 women.

Effectiveness of nurse-delivered screening and brief alcohol intervention in the workplace: A randomized controlled trial at five Japan-based companies.

Background: Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of global morbidity and premature mortality. This study evaluated the effectiveness of two types of nurse-delivered interventions to reduce excessive alcohol consumption among screened participants using the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) in the workplace.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial involving AUDIT-positive employees of five Japan-based companies was conducted.

Effectiveness of Screening and Brief Alcohol Intervention at the Workplace: A Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial at Five Japan-Based Companies.

Background: Despite evidence regarding the effectiveness of screening and brief interventions for excessive alcohol use in primary care, these tools are not a part of routine practice. It has been suggested that using these tools at the workplace may be critical to alcohol-associated harm; however, evidence for this claim is unclear. The aim of this article is to develop a study protocol which evaluates the effect of brief alcohol intervention at the workplace to reduce harmful alcohol drinking.

Trends in the co-use of alcohol and tobacco among Japanese adolescents: periodical nationwide cross-sectional surveys 1996-2017.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess trends in the prevalence of alcohol use depending on smoking behaviours and that of smoking depending on drinking behaviours among Japanese adolescents.

Design: This was a retrospective study using Japanese school-based nationwide surveys conducted between 1996 and 2017.

Setting: Surveyed schools, both junior and senior high schools, considered representative of the entire Japanese population, were sampled randomly.

Changes in smoking behavior among victims after the great East Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Background: In areas affected by the tsunami of the great East Japan Earthquake, smoking behavior may have deteriorated due to high stress and drastic changes in living environment. Surveys were conducted to reveal changes in smoking behaviors among victims.

Methods: A population-based random-sample home-visit interview survey of victims in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures affected by the tsunami disaster was conducted in 2012 (n = 1978), while a population-based nationwide survey was conducted in 2013 (n = 1082).

Endoscopic screening using esophageal iodine staining and genotypes of ADH1B and ALDH2 in Japanese alcohol-dependent women.

Background: The presence of large or multiple esophageal distinct iodine-unstained lesions (DIULs) is a strong predictor of field cancerization in the upper aerodigestive tract. Several risk factors for DIULs, including genetic polymorphisms of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases (ADH1B, rs1229984; ALDH2, rs671), have been demonstrated in Japanese alcohol-dependent men. However, few evaluations of alcohol-dependent women have been conducted in this field.

[Relapse prevention program consisting of coping skills training, cue exposure treatment, and letter therapy for Japanese alcoholic men who relapsed after standard cognitive-behavioral therapy].

Coping skills training (CST) and cue exposure treatment (CET) have yielded favorable outcomes when used to treat alcoholics. We conducted 6-week inpatient programs that consisted of 9 CST group sessions (n = 117) during 2005-2009 and 9 CST group sessions plus 4 CET group sessions (n = 49) during 2009-2011 and subsequent 1-year letter therapy for Japanese alcoholic men who had relapsed and been readmitted after standard cognitive-behavioral inpatient therapy. When patients received a letter containing encouraging words every 2 weeks, they were asked to reread their CST and CET records and to respond to the letter by marking drinking days on a calendar and naming the skills on a list of the 9 CST themes and CET that were useful for maintaining abstinence during that 2-week period.

[Concurrent inpatient smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence programs for alcoholics and their outcomes].

Alcoholics have a high prevalence of nicotine dependence, and smoking is a major contributor to their high mortality. Three weeks after admission to an addiction center in Japan, 193 alcoholic men who were participating in an 11-week concurrent inpatient smoking cessation and alcohol abstinence programs filled out an anonymous self-report questionnaire regarding smoking and drinking, and 6 months after the completion of the programs, 83 patients were asked to respond to a mailed questionnaire about their smoking and drinking status. Of the 193 subjects, 73.

Acceptance of controlled drinking among treatment specialists of alcohol dependence in Japan.

Aims: This study evaluated the acceptance of controlled drinking (CD) goals among physicians specializing in the treatment of alcohol dependence (AD) in Japan.

Methods: A mailed questionnaire survey was sent to physician members of the Japanese Society of Alcohol-Related Problems (n = 232) who were specialists in the treatment of AD in Japan. The evaluated items included the acceptance of CD goals, the definition of CD, the reasons for accepting or rejecting CD and the patient factors used to make treatment-goal decisions.

[Survey of physicians and alcohol-dependent patients in regard to the goals of treatment of alcohol dependence].

We conducted a survey of alcohol-dependent patients at the time of their first visit and physicians in regard to the goals of treatment of alcohol dependence. There were 99 replies from patients, and replies from physicians related to 64 of the patients' replies were also received, and in 25.0% of them it was judged possible to make reducing the amount of alcohol consumed a temporary or final goal.

[Treatment processes of pre-alcoholism and alcohol dependence targeted towards drinking reduction].

Since the 1990s, we have suggested the concept of pre-alcoholism which encompasses patients who have drunk a great deal of alcohol leading to alcohol related problems such as health issues, domestic violence, drunken driving and black-outs. Pre-alcoholism excludes alcohol-dependent patients who have experienced continuous drinking or withdrawal symptoms. We have treated many outpatients with pre-alcoholism for several years.

Role of GABRA2 in moderating subjective responses to alcohol.

Background: Human twin studies have shown that certain responses to alcohol, including subjective perceptions, are genetically influenced. Previous studies have provided evidence that a low level of response to alcohol predicts future alcohol use disorders in humans. Recent genetic studies suggest an association between alcohol dependence and genetic variation in the γ-aminobutyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor α2 subunit gene (GABRA2).

[Relationship between drinking, smoking, and dietary habits and the body mass index of Japanese alcoholic men].

Malnutrition and emaciation in alcoholics is associated with various alcoholism-related diseases, including Wernicke's encephalopathy, aero-digestive tract cancer, and serious metabolic disorders. We used a self-administered questionnaire survey for structured dietary habit screening to evaluate the dietary profiles of 467 Japanese alcoholic men aged 40 years or over and their relationship to body mass index (BMI). Their average daily ethanol consumption was 119 +/- 65 g (845 +/- 463 kcal).

Elevated cerebrospinal fluid tau protein levels in Wernicke's encephalopathy.

Objective: Limited neuronal cell loss is seen in the neuropathology of Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE), but the extent of neuronal damage has not been well studied. Moreover, there is still a debate as to whether alcohol itself causes brain damage in humans. Although, it is difficult to examine the extent of neuronal damage in living patients, recent studies have revealed that total tau protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflect the rate of neuronal degeneration.

Japan: alcohol today.

Aims: The purpose of this paper is to outline alcohol availability, alcohol consumption and related harm, alcohol control policy and prevention programmes in Japan, few of which have been discussed in either the Japanese or English literature.

Methods: Data were collected primarily from the following two sources: statistics and survey results issued by the national government, including surveys funded by the government; and papers published since 2000, identified by searching the MEDLINE and Igaku-Chuo-Zasshi databases. These data were assessed regarding their quality and summarized.