著者

Takashi YAMAUCHI Toru YOSHIKAWA Masahiro TAKAMOTO Takeshi SASAKI Shun MATSUMOTO Kotaro KAYASHIMA Tadashi TAKESHIMA Masaya TAKAHASHI

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, no.3, pp.293-302, 2017-05-31 (Released:2017-06-08)

参考文献数

18

被引用文献数

21 69

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Overwork-related disorders, such as cerebrovascular/cardiovascular diseases (CCVD) and mental disorders due to overwork, are a major occupational and public health issue worldwide, particularly in East Asian countries. This report discusses the recent trend of overwork-related disorders in Japan from the perspective of workers' compensated occupational diseases, as well as the development of a national policy for preventive measures against overwork-related disorders in Japan. Recently, the number of claimed and compensated cases of occupational mental disorders has increased substantially, particularly among young workers, as compared to those of occupational CCVD. In response to these situations and action from society, the Japanese Government passed the "Act on Promotion of Preventive Measures against Karoshi and Other Overwork-Related Health Disorders" in June 2014 to develop a national initiative towards the prevention of overwork-related disorders. Changes in the trend of overwork-related disorders in Japan under a legal foundation and an initiative by the central government should be closely monitored so that other countries can benefit from the experiences.

著者

Kotaro Imamura Yumi Asai Kazuhiro Watanabe Akizumi Tsutsumi Akihito Shimazu Akiomi Inoue Hisanori Hiro Yuko Odagiri Toru Yoshikawa Etsuko Yoshikawa Norito Kawakami

出版者

Japan Society for Occupational Health

雑誌

Journal of Occupational Health (ISSN:13419145)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.60, no.4, pp.298-306, 2018-07-20 (Released:2018-07-25)

参考文献数

29

被引用文献数

16

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Objectives: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the impact of the Stress Check Program, a recently introduced national policy and program aimed at reducing psychological distress among Japanese workers. Methods: A baseline survey was conducted from November 2015 to February 2016, the period when Japan began enforcing the Stress Check Program. A one-year follow-up survey was conducted in December 2016. In the follow-up survey, two exposure variables were collected: having taken the annual stress survey, and experiencing an improvement in the psychosocial work environment. Psychological distress was assessed using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) at baseline and 1-year follow-up. The two exposure variables were used to define four groups: "Neither", "Stress survey (SS) only", "Psychosocial work environment improvement (WI) only", and "Both". BJSQ results were analyzed using repeated measures general linear modeling (GLM). Results: The study included 2,492 participants: 1,342 in the "Neither" group, 1,009 in the "SS only" group, 76 in the "WI only" group, and 65 in the "Both" group. Overall time-group interaction effects were not significant. The "Both" group showed significantly greater improvements in psychological distress than the "Neither" group (p = 0.02) at the 1-year follow-up, although the effect size was small (d = -0.14). Conclusions: Combination of the annual stress survey and improvement in psychosocial work environment may have been effective in reducing psychological distress in workers, although the effect size was small.

著者

Shuhei IZAWA Nanako NAKAMURA-TAIRA Chihiro MORIISHI Toru YOSHIKAWA Rie AKAMATSU Hiroki IKEDA Tomohide KUBO

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.2023-0068, (Released:2023-09-15)

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Mental health problems are prevalent among the working population and must be resolved. We conducted a web-based large-scale study of workers, including a baseline survey and two follow-up surveys, to investigate the associations between self-care behaviors in daily life (e.g., stress coping, sleep, diet, and exercise), work environment improvements, and mental health among Japanese employees from various industries. In this protocol, we demonstrate the study design and demographic data of the participants in the baseline survey. Invitations to participate in this study were sent to 421,825 internet monitor registrants in February 2022. Overall, 20,000 registrants who met the inclusion criteria participated in the survey. There were large variations in occupations and working styles (e.g., physical work, night work, and teleworking) among the participants, and we also found significant differences between male and female participants in the demographic data. An overview of the survey data suggests that the demographic characteristics of the participants in this study are comparable to those reported in previous studies on Japanese employees. We plan to use these survey data in the future to examine the associations of daily lifestyles and work environments with the mental health of Japanese employees.

著者

Keisei Kosaki Atsumu Yokota Koichiro Tanahashi Kanae Myoenzono Jiyeon Park Toru Yoshikawa Yasuko Yoshida Takayo Murase Seigo Akari Takashi Nakamura Seiji Maeda

出版者

SOCIETY FOR FREE RADICAL RESEARCH JAPAN

雑誌

Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition (ISSN:09120009)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.21-118, (Released:2022-04-12)

参考文献数

30

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Circulating xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) activity may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity-related adverse cardiometabolic profiles. This pilot study aimed to examine the cross-sectional associations between plasma XOR activity and cardiometabolic risk (CMR) markers in overweight and obese men. In 64 overweight and obese Japanese men (aged 31–63 years), plasma XOR activity and several CMR markers, such as homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and clustered CMR score were measured in each participant. Clustered CMR score was constructed based on waist circumference, triglyceride, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Plasma XOR activity in overweight and obese men was positively associated with the body mass index, waist circumference, visceral fat area, body fat mass, hemoglobin A1c, serum 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine, HOMA-IR, and clustered CMR score and was inversely associated with handgrip strength and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Multiple linear regression analysis further demonstrated that the associations of plasma XOR activity with HOMA-IR and the clustered CMR score remained significant after adjustment for covariates including uric acid. Our data demonstrate that circulating XOR activity was independently associated, albeit modestly, with HOMA-IR and the clustered CMR score. These preliminary findings suggest that circulating XOR activity can potentially be one of the preventive targets and biomarkers of cardiometabolic disorders in over­weight and obese men.

著者

Yuki NISHIMURA Takeshi SASAKI Toru YOSHIKAWA Tomohide KUBO Tomoaki MATSUO Xinxin LIU Masaya TAKAHASHI

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.2020-0058, (Released:2020-07-01)

被引用文献数

5

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While a number of work-related events have been proposed as risk factors for depression, a majority of studies have focused only on a few events in a single study. Therefore, we conducted a web-based longitudinal study to comprehensively investigate the impact of various work-related events on depressive symptoms. Ten thousand Japanese workers representing the Japanese working population were recruited online and questioned on their experiences of 36 work-related events in the past year. Their depressive symptoms were also assessed based on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Two years later, 3,098 participants responded to a follow-up study. By excluding 1,030 participants who were classified as being depressed in the baseline survey, data of 2,068 participants were analyzed. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated using multivariate logistic regression to assess the effect of work-related events on depressive symptoms. Eighteen events were found to be risk factors and were sorted into four types as follows: experience of an accident or disaster (OR: 4.78–7.67), excessive responsibility (OR: 3.01–3.62), drastic change in workstyle or workload (OR: 2.38–3.08), and interpersonal conflict (OR: 2.41–11.16). The current results, including magnitude relationship of ORs, should be utilized for promoting psychosocially healthy work environment.

著者

Takeshi Otsuki Hayate Namatame Toru Yoshikawa Asako Zempo-Miyaki

出版者

SOCIETY FOR FREE RADICAL RESEARCH JAPAN

雑誌

Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition (ISSN:09120009)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.66, no.1, pp.62-66, 2020 (Released:2020-01-01)

参考文献数

32

被引用文献数

22

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Meta-analyses have concluded that combined aerobic and high-intensity or moderate-intensity resistance exercise training has no effects on arterial stiffness. However, a recent study demonstrated that combined aerobic training and resistance training using rubber bands increases basal nitric oxide (NO) production and decreases arterial stiffness with marked reduction of body weight in obese adolescent girls. To investigate whether combined aerobic and low-intensity resistance training increases basal NO production and decreases arterial stiffness without body weight reduction in older adults, 27 healthy older individuals participated in a 6-week program as a part of the training group (mean body mass index, 21 kg/m2; walking and resistance training using one’s body weight) or the control group (22 kg/m2, asked not to modify their lifestyle). The exercise intervention increased aerobic capacity, muscle strength, and plasma concentrations of nitrite/nitrate (end products of NO) and decreased pulse wave velocity (an index of arterial stiffness) without changes in body weight. In the control group, there were no differences in these measures before and after the study period. These results suggest that combined aerobic and low-intensity resistance exercise training increases basal NO production and decreases arterial stiffness in healthy older adults.

著者

Takashi YAMAUCHI Toru YOSHIKAWA Takeshi SASAKI Shun MATSUMOTO Masaya TAKAHASHI Machi SUKA Hiroyuki YANAGISAWA

出版者

National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

雑誌

Industrial Health (ISSN:00198366)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.56, no.1, pp.85-91, 2018-01-31 (Released:2018-02-07)

参考文献数

11

被引用文献数

1 15

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In Japan, overwork-related disorders occur among local public employees as well as those in private businesses. However, to date, there are no studies reporting the state of compensation for cerebrovascular/cardiovascular diseases (CCVD) and mental disorders due to overwork or work-related stress among local public employees in Japan over multiple years. This report examined the recent trend of overwork-related CCVD and mental disorders, including the incidence rates of these disorders, among local public employees in Japan from the perspective of compensation for public accidents, using data from the Japanese Government and relevant organizations. Since 2000, compared to CCVD, there has been an overall increase in the number of claims and cases of compensation for mental disorders. Over half of the individuals receiving compensation for mental disorders were either in their 30s or younger. About 47% of cases of mental disorders were compensated due to work-related factors other than long working hours. The incidence rate by job type was highest among "police officials" and "fire department officials" for compensated CCVD and mental disorders cases, respectively. Changes in the trend of overwork-related disorders among local public employees in Japan under a legal foundation should be closely monitored.

著者

Hiroshi Kumagai Asako Zempo-Miyaki Toru Yoshikawa Takehiko Tsujimoto Kiyoji Tanaka Seiji Maeda

出版者

(社)日本内分泌学会

雑誌

Endocrine Journal (ISSN:09188959)

巻号頁・発行日

pp.EJ14-0555, (Released:2015-03-01)

被引用文献数

3 44

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Obesity has reached global epidemic proportions and is associated with multiple comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease. A novel predictor of cardiovascular disease is elevated central systolic blood pressure. In fact, lifestyle modifications have been shown to decrease the central systolic blood pressure in overweight and obese men. The mechanism underlying these changes has yet to be fully elucidated. Interestingly, testosterone has been found to have cardioprotective effects. Moreover, serum testosterone levels are lower in obese men than in normal weight men. However, it is still unclear whether testosterone participates in the decrease of central blood pressure in overweight and obese men following lifestyle modifications. So, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of testosterone on central systolic blood pressure in overweight and obese men before and after the 12-week lifestyle modification program. Forty-four overweight and obese men completed a 12-week lifestyle modification program (aerobic exercise training and dietary modifications). For all participants, central systolic blood pressure and serum testosterone levels were measured before and after the program. After the program, central systolic blood pressure was significantly decreased while serum total testosterone levels were significantly increased in overweight and obese men. Moreover, we also found a significant negative relationship between the change in serum testosterone levels and that in central systolic blood pressure. The present study suggests that increased serum testosterone levels likely contribute to a decrease in central blood pressure in overweight and obese men.