- 著者
- Kyoko Nomura Mutsuhiro Nakao Mikiya Sato Eiji Yano
- 出版者
- Tohoku University Medical Press
- 雑誌
- The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine (ISSN:00408727)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.212, no.3, pp.239-246, 2007 (Released:2007-06-26)
- 参考文献数
- 26
- 被引用文献数
- 5 6
Benzodiazepines are useful and effective psychotropic agents used worldwide. However, the long term use of the drugs can lead to serious adverse health effects such as psychomotor and cognitive impairment, especially in the elderly. In Japan, there are very few reports concerning long-term use of benzodiazepines, and no countermeasures have been instituted. Thus, this study assessed the characteristics of long-term prescription of benzodiazepines at a university hospital in Japan. A cross-sectional study using the database of a computer ordering system examined 4,239 adult outpatients who were prescribed benzodiazepines at a university teaching hospital between July 2002 and June 2003. The patients were divided into two groups: those with long-term (≥ 3 months) and short-term (≤ 2 months) prescriptions. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the effect of patient age on long-term benzodiazepine prescription. Adjusting for patient gender, pharmacological half-life of the drug, and department group, a logistic regression model showed that long-term benzodiazepine prescription occurred more frequently in older patients (p < 0.0001 in trend tests) and varied according to the physician's specialty (p < 0.0001). Benzodiazepines were more frequently prescribed for long term in the elderly by internal medicine group (p = 0.003). Of the patients older than 71 years (n = 1,105), 86% were assigned to the long-term group and were more likely to have been prescribed benzodiazepines by an internist than a surgeon (p < 0.0001). The appropriate prescription of benzodiazepines in the elderly should be included in the educational programs at teaching hospitals, and rational prescribing needs to be monitored carefully.
- 著者
- Mikiya Sato Shingo Fukayo Eiji Yano
- 出版者
- (公社)日本産業衛生学会
- 雑誌
- Journal of Occupational Health (ISSN:13419145)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.45, no.2, pp.133-136, 2003 (Released:2003-05-30)
- 参考文献数
- 9
- 被引用文献数
- 31 65
In Japan, relative humidity (RH) shows the lowest achievement rate among the various general air quality standards for work environment. It has been mainly contributed by airtight design of modern buildings and occurrence of dry outdoor air in winter. Furthermore, an ultra-dry air environment of nearly 0% RH is often required in sophisticated industries. In order to assess the adverse health effects of the ultra-dry air environment, using a self-reported questionnaire, we have undertaken a study of over 200 employees of a high-tech device developing laboratory having a room at 2.5% RH (ultra-dry room). Those who worked in the ultra-dry room were identified and the prevalence of symptoms was compared with the other workers. Analysis was performed by Wilcoxon's test and Fisher's exact test. In the ultra-dry room, all the twelve workers covered their skin with long-sleeve clothes, paper caps, paper masks and latex gloves. They reported skin symptoms more often (p<0.05) than the other workers (N=143). The prevalence of atopic dermatitis was also higher in the exposed workers (p<0.05). The complaints of workers in the ultra-dry environment were similar to preceding reports concerning moderately dry environmental exposures. The current precautions to protect the workers from the adverse effects of ultra-low RH appear to be insufficient, indicating that additional measures such as selection of appropriate clothing to mere skin coverage should be considered.