Health Literacy and Internet Use Among Japanese Older Adults: A Gender-Stratified Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Moderating Effects of Neighborhood Relationships.

: Internet use positively impacts mental health in older adults, with health literacy (HL) playing a key role. While social networks may complement individual HL, the role of neighborhood relationships in this association, particularly by gender, remains unclear. This study examined how the association between HL and Internet use among older adults was modified by neighborhood relationships.

A Real-Time Web-Based Intervention with a Multicomponent Group-Based Program for Older Adults: Single-Arm Feasibility Study.

Frailty is a growing public health challenge in Japan's rapidly aging population, where 28.8% are aged ≥ 65. While multicomponent interventions have shown potential in preventing frailty, traditional face-to-face programs face accessibility challenges.

A Community-Based Intervention to Enhance Subjective Well-Being in Older Adults: Study Design and Baseline Participant Profiles.

Promoting subjective well-being is a crucial challenge in aging societies. In 2022, we launched a community-based intervention trial (the Chofu-Digital-Choju Movement). This initiative centered on fostering in-person and online social connections to enhance the subjective well-being of older adults.

Associations between Workers' Health and Working Conditions: Would the Physical and Mental Health of Nonregular Employees Improve If Their Income Was Adjusted?

Precarious employment can negatively affect health, but workers may be healthy if they earn enough income. This study uses equivalent disposable income and examines the interaction between income classes and employment types to clarify whether workers' health improves as the income classes rise. In Japan, nonstandard workers, called nonregular employees, have remained high since 2013.

Effects of electrical muscle stimulation on cerebral blood flow.

Background: Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) induces involuntary muscle contraction. Several studies have suggested that EMS has the potential to be an alternative method of voluntary exercise; however, its effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) when applied to large lower limb muscles are poorly understood. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of EMS on CBF, focusing on whether the effects differ between the internal carotid (ICA) and vertebral (VA) arteries.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working students: Results from the Labour Force Survey and the student lifestyle survey.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused devastating damage to employment globally, particularly among the non-standard workforce. The objective of this study was to identify the effects of the pandemic on the employment status and lives of working students in Japan.

Methods: The Labour Force Survey (January 2019 to May 2020) was used to examine changes in students' work situations.

For making a declaration of countermeasures against the falling birth rate from the Japanese Society for Hygiene: summary of discussion in the working group on academic research strategy against an aging society with low birth rate.

In 1952, the Japanese Society for Hygiene had once passed a resolution at its 22nd symposium on population control, recommending the suppression of population growth based on the idea of cultivating a healthier population in the area of eugenics. Over half a century has now passed since this recommendation; Japan is witnessing an aging of the population (it is estimated that over 65-year-olds made up 27.7% of the population in 2017) and a decline in the birth rate (total fertility rate 1.

[Nonregular Employment in a Society with a Decreasing Birthrate: Workers' Marriage, Childbirth, and Childcare].

In this paper, we examine the trend in Japan towards nonregular employment and its effects on marriage, childbirth, and childcare from the viewpoint of a decreasing societal birthrate. Although the decision to marry includes personal values and preferences, socioeconomic status factors such as income and employment type are also associated with the determinants of marriage. Nonregular employment workers have a lower rate and motivation for marriage than regular workers.

Relationship between menstruation status and work conditions in Japan.

Background: Menstrual problems can significantly impact daily and work life. In reaction to a shrinking population, the Japanese government is encouraging more women to participate in the labor force. Actual success in achieving this aim, however, is limited.

Female non-regular workers in Japan: their current status and health.

The participation of women in the Japanese labor force is characterized by its M-shaped curve, which reflects decreased employment rates during child-rearing years. Although, this M-shaped curve is now improving, the majority of women in employment are likely to fall into the category of non-regular workers. Based on a review of the previous Japanese studies of the health of non-regular workers, we found that non-regular female workers experienced greater psychological distress, poorer self-rated health, a higher smoking rate, and less access to preventive medicine than regular workers did.

Determinants of changes in income-related health inequalities among working-age adults in Japan, 1986-2007: time-trend study.

This study aimed to quantify the contributions of the factors that have influenced changes in income-related health inequalities. We used data from a nationally representative sample of Japanese men and women aged 20-59 years who participated in eight repeated cross-sectional surveys between 1986 and 2007. A concentration index (CI) was used to measure income-related inequalities in self-rated health (SRH) and decomposed into contributing factors.

Relationship between transitions in self-rated health and health indicators in Japanese workers.

Objective: Self-rated health (SRH) reflects lifestyle habits, chronic disease, and psychosocial conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between transitions in SRH and health indicators among Japanese white-collar workers.

Methods: Three-year medical examination data from an occupational field was used.

Evaluation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in Japanese women.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to clarify the significance of high levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in Japanese women receiving an annual health check-up.

Methods: A total of 1879 women who were not taking medication for hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia, with no prior history of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease or chronic renal failure were analyzed. First, the association between HDL-C and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was studied.

Full-time workers with precarious employment face lower protection for receiving annual health check-ups.

Background: Precarious employment is one of the social determinants of health. In 2010, 34.4% of Japanese workers fell into this employment category.

The possible absence of a healthy-worker effect: a cross-sectional survey among educated Japanese women.

Objectives: Despite being highly educated in comparison with women in other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Japanese women are expected to assume traditional gender roles, and many dedicate themselves to full-time housewifery. Women working outside the home do so under poor conditions, and their health may not be better than that of housewives. This study compared the self-rated health status and health behaviours of housewives and working women in Japan.

Precarious employment and health: analysis of the Comprehensive National Survey in Japan.

Recent studies suggest that unstable employment contracts may affect the health of workers. Many Japanese workers working full time in ostensibly permanent positions actually operate within unstable and precarious employment conditions. We compared the health status of Japanese workers with precarious employment contracts with that of permanent workers using the 2007 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions of the People on Health and Welfare (n=205,994).

Effect of unequal employment status on workers' health: results from a Japanese national survey.

This study assesses the possibility of a period effect on Japanese workers' health and its association with historical changes in the work environment. We used multi-year national cross-sectional surveys, the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions for 2001, 2004, and 2007, and estimated the period effect on the health of employed workers aged 18-65 years. The prevalence of ill-health indicators (poor self-rated health status, subjective symptoms, and the number of respondents receiving consultations from medical doctors and other health professionals) significantly increased during this period.

Job stress strengthens the link between metabolic risk factors and renal dysfunction in adult men.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The metabolic risk factors obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia are closely associated with renal dysfunction. As psychosocial stress affects these risk factors, here, we examined relationships between metabolic risk factors and renal function, and their association with job stress.

[Factors associated with working among female physicians in Japan].

Objectives: Japan faces a very serious physician shortage and needs female doctors. However, a previous survey in Japan showed that female physicians were more likely than their male counterparts to resign from their jobs due to marriage and childbearing. According to studies in Western countries, the professional motivation of female physicians is seriously affected by sex-based inequalities in professional opportunities.

[The health of permanent workers and workers with precarious employment: a literature review].

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review research articles about the health of workers with precarious employment (precarious workers).

Methods: Articles that compared the health status between permanent and precarious workers were systematically searched. The collected articles are discussed with respect to their study design, data source, sample size, country, health outcome, definition of precarious employment, and primary findings.

Lack of leisure-time physical activity in non-obese Japanese men with components of metabolic syndrome.

A focus exclusively on waist circumference, the main component used in the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome (MetS), may lead to ignoring non-obese individuals with other MetS components, including high levels of blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, and triglycerides and low levels of high-density lipoprotein. This study investigated lifestyles and eating behaviors among non-obese individuals with components of MetS. Of the 918 Japanese male workers, 151 subjects (16.

Job stress and mental health of permanent and fixed-term workers measured by effort-reward imbalance model, depressive complaints, and clinic utilization.

Objectives: The number of workers with precarious employment has increased globally; however, few studies have used validated measures to investigate the relationship of job status to stress and mental health. Thus, we conducted a study to compare differential job stress experienced by permanent and fixed-term workers using an effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model questionnaire, and by evaluating depressive complaints and clinic utilization.

Methods: Subjects were permanent or fixed-term male workers at a Japanese research institute (n=756).

Effort-reward imbalance and its association with health among permanent and fixed-term workers.

Background: In the past decade, the changing labor market seems to have rejected the traditional standards employment and has begun to support a variety of non-standard forms of work in their place. The purpose of our study was to compare the degree of job stress, sources of job stress, and association of high job stress with health among permanent and fixed-term workers.

Methods: Our study subjects were 709 male workers aged 30 to 49 years in a suburb of Tokyo, Japan.

Job stress and healthy behavior among male Japanese office workers.

Background: Lifestyle modification in healthy workers is challenging. We aim to investigate associations between job stress and healthy behavior change among workers.

Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated 1,183 Japanese male white-collar workers in 2008 during health checkups for Metabolic Syndrome.