著者

Yusuke Matsuyama Aya Isumi Satomi Doi Takeo Fujiwara

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20210321, (Released:2021-10-30)

参考文献数

31

被引用文献数

1

---

Background: Leaving children alone at home is considered child neglect in some countries but is not prohibited in Japan. We investigated the association between being left alone at home and dental caries of children aged 6–7 years in Japan.Methods: The data on first graders in all 69 public elementary schools in Adachi, Tokyo, obtained from repeated cross-sectional surveys in 2015, 2017, and 2019 were analyzed. Caregivers answered the questionnaire, and the data were linked to the information on children’s dental caries evaluated in school dental health checkups (N = 12,029). Poisson regression analysis with propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to account for confounders.Results: Leaving children alone at home for ≥1 hour during the weekdays was reported by 46.4% of the caregivers, which did not vary across years. The PSM analysis showed that, compared with children never being left alone at home, children being left alone at home for ≥1 time per week had more dental caries (mean ratio [MR] 1.11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–1.21; P = 0.016), while <1 time per week was not associated (MR 0.97; 95% CI, 0.92–1.03; P = 0.345). The difference between those being left alone at home for <1 time per week and those being left alone for ≥1 time per week was not significant after applying Bonferroni correction (MR 1.12; 95% CI, 1.00–1.26; P = 0.041).Conclusion: Leaving children alone at home for ≥1 hour every week might be a risk factor for dental caries of children aged 6–7 years.

著者

Yukako Tani Aya Isumi Satomi Doi Takeo Fujiwara

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20210510, (Released:2022-05-28)

参考文献数

28

---

Background: Having siblings may foster sociality; however, little is known about whether sibling number determines social capital, the resources obtained through social networks. We examined the association between sibling number and social capital among Japanese parents rearing schoolchildren.Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the 2018 and 2019 Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study, targeting all primary and junior high school students and their parents in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan (n = 8,082). Individual-level social capital was evaluated by assessing caregivers’ social cohesion, social support, and group affiliation. All analyses were adjusted for age and sex.Results: An inverse U-shaped association was found between sibling number and social capital. Adults who grew up with one or two, but not three or more siblings had greater social support (coefficient = 0.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06–0.40 and coefficient = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.29–0.64, respectively) than those who grew up as an only child, after covariate adjustment. Adults who grew up with two or three, but not one or four or more siblings had greater group affiliation (coefficient = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.03–0.16 and coefficient = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.01–0.18, respectively) than those who grew up as an only child, after covariate adjustment. Sibling number was not associated with social cohesion.Conclusion: Growing up with one to three siblings was associated with higher social capital in adulthood than being an only child. Having siblings may provide an opportunity to foster social capital.

著者

Manami Ochi Aya Isumi Tsuguhiko Kato Satomi Doi Takeo Fujiwara

出版者

Japan Epidemiological Association

雑誌

Journal of Epidemiology (ISSN:09175040)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.JE20190177, (Released:2020-03-21)

参考文献数

39

被引用文献数

29

---

Background: The Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD) study has been conducted since 2015 to clarify the associations between socioeconomic factors and child health, as well as to accumulate data for political evaluation of the child-poverty agenda. This paper describes the purpose and research design of the A-CHILD study and the baseline profiles of participants, together with the future framework for implementing this cohort study.Methods: We have conducted two types of continuous survey: a complete-sample survey started in 2015 as a first wave study to target first-grade children in all public elementary schools in Adachi City, Tokyo, and a biennial fixed grade observation survey started in 2016 in selected elementary and junior high schools. Questionnaires were answered by caregivers of all targeted children and also by the children themselves for those in the fourth grade and higher. The data of A-CHILD also combined information obtained from school health checkups of all school-grade children, as well as the results from blood test and measurement of blood pressure of eight-grade children since 2016.Results: The valid responses in the first wave were 4,291 (80.1%). The number of households in “living difficulties”, such as low household income or material deprivation, stood at 1,047 (24.5%).Conclusions: The A-CHILD study will contribute to the clarification of the impact of poverty on children’s health disparities and paves the way to managing this issue in the community.