Impact of high blood pressure on the risk of mortality among Japanese people aged 65 years and older.

Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of abnormal blood pressure on the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a large cohort of older Japanese people aged ≥65 years.

Methods: This cohort study enrolled 54 760 participants from Okayama City aged ≥65 years who underwent basic health checkups from April 2006 to March 2008. Based on blood pressure, the participants were divided into six categories, from C1 (lowest) to C6 (highest).

Effectiveness of the Original COVID-19 Vaccine against COVID-19 Exacerbations during the Omicron Wave: A Population-based Study in Okayama, Japan.

Introduction: In Japan, approximately 97 million individuals have received their primary two doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine at the end of 2022. In this study, we aim to examine the effectiveness of the primary vaccines and compare its efficacy to booster vaccine shots in terms of preventing COVID-19 exacerbations during the Omicron-predominant period in Japan.

Methods: For this analysis, we have collected all the confirmed COVID-19-positive cases from different medical institutions in Okayama City and have also utilized the information from the public Vaccination Record System.

COVID-19 pandemic and language development in children at 18 months: a repeated cross-sectional study over a 6-year period in Japan.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic experience on language development among children, we compared language development at 18 months of age, before and during the pandemic in Japan, where strict control measures continued over a long period.

Methods: This was a repeated cross-sectional study and we included children who attended the 18-month health check-up provided by the Okayama City Public Health Center between January 2017 and December 2022 (n=33 484). We compared indicators of language development before (from January 2017 to February 2020) and during (from March 2020 to December 2022) the pandemic.

Obesity, overweight, and severe prognosis in COVID-19 patients in Japan.

Introduction: Obesity (i.e., body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m or more) is one of the risk factors for severe COVID-19, but the findings may not be directly applicable to Asians, who have a different cutoff point for defining obesity.

Frailty and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Japan.

Background: In aging societies, there is an increasing focus on the concept of frailty. However, there is no consistent means to assess this concept. We assessed frailty using the Kihon Checklist (KCL), which is widely used in Japan, and examined the association between frailty and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Japan, the most aged society in the world.

Differential Associations of Frailty with the Incidence of Mild and Severe Disabilities in Older Adults: A 3-Year Cohort Study.

Background: Frailty is associated with the incidence of disability in older adults; however, few studies have investigated differences in the association of frailty with mild and severe disabilities according to Japanese long-term care insurance certification. This study separately investigated the associations between frailty and the incidence of mild and severe disabilities.

Methods: This 3-year retrospective cohort study included community-dwelling adults in Okayama City aged ≥65 years.

Early-stage antibody kinetics after the third dose of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination measured by a point-of-care fingertip whole blood testing.

Amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, we aimed to demonstrate the accuracy of the fingertip whole blood sampling test (FWT) in measuring the antibody titer and uncovering its dynamics shortly after booster vaccination. Mokobio SARS-CoV-2 IgM & IgG Quantum Dot immunoassay (Mokobio Biotechnology R&D Center Inc., MD, USA) was used as a point-of-care FWT in 226 health care workers (HCWs) who had received two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) at least 8 months prior.