In conclusion, the epidemiological study by Kitamura and colleagues is historical but one of the most valuable epidemiological studies conducted in Japan. Their conclusion that eating fish caught in ...Minamata Bay was the source of the disease has never changed, which was determined 3 years before the etiologic agent was found and six years before the mechanism was discovered. Kitamura’s article demonstrates the potential of epidemiology and the consequences on public health when we did not follow the epidemiological findings. Early epidemiological studies can play a key role in preventing and minimizing future harm.
Particulate matter (PM) in outdoor air pollution was recently designated a Group I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This determination was based on the evidence ...regarding the relationship of PM2.5 and PM10 to lung cancer risk; however, the IARC evaluation did not include a quantitative summary of the evidence.
Our goal was to provide a systematic review and quantitative summary of the evidence regarding the relationship between PM and lung cancer.
We conducted meta-analyses of studies examining the relationship of exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 with lung cancer incidence and mortality. In total, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria and provided the information necessary to estimate the change in lung cancer risk per 10-μg/m3 increase in exposure to PM. We used random-effects analyses to allow between-study variability to contribute to meta-estimates.
The meta-relative risk for lung cancer associated with PM2.5 was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.14). The meta-relative risk of lung cancer associated with PM10 was similar, but less precise: 1.08 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.17). Estimates were robust to restriction to studies that considered potential confounders, as well as subanalyses by exposure assessment method. Analyses by smoking status showed that lung cancer risk associated with PM2.5 was greatest for former smokers 1.44 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.22), followed by never-smokers 1.18 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.39), and then current smokers 1.06 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.15). In addition, meta-estimates for adenocarcinoma associated with PM2.5 and PM10 were 1.40 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.83) and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.63), respectively.
The results of these analyses, and the decision of the IARC Working Group to classify PM and outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic (Group 1), further justify efforts to reduce exposures to air pollutants that can arise from many sources.
Background: Particulate matter (PM) in outdoor air pollution was recently designated a Group I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). This determination was based on ...the evidence regarding the relationship of PM2.5 and PM10 to lung cancer risk; however, the IARC evaluation did not include a quantitative summary of the evidence. Objective: Our goal was to provide a systematic review and quantitative summary of the evidence regarding the relationship between PM and lung cancer. Methods: We conducted meta-analyses of studies examining the relationship of exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 with lung cancer incidence and mortality. In total, 18 studies met our inclusion criteria and provided the information necessary to estimate the change in lung cancer risk per 10- mu g/m3 increase in exposure to PM. We used random-effects analyses to allow between-study variability to contribute to meta-estimates. Results: The meta-relative risk for lung cancer associated with PM2.5 was 1.09 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.14). The meta-relative risk of lung cancer associated with PM10 was similar, but less precise: 1.08 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.17). Estimates were robust to restriction to studies that considered potential confounders, as well as subanalyses by exposure assessment method. Analyses by smoking status showed that lung cancer risk associated with PM2.5 was greatest for former smokers 1.44 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.22), followed by never-smokers 1.18 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.39), and then current smokers 1.06 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.15). In addition, meta-estimates for adenocarcinoma associated with PM2.5 and PM10 were 1.40 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.83) and 1.29 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.63), respectively. Conclusion: The results of these analyses, and the decision of the IARC Working Group to classify PM and outdoor air pollution as carcinogenic (Group 1), further justify efforts to reduce exposures to air pollutants that can arise from many sources. Citation: Hamra GB, Guha N, Cohen A, Laden F, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Samet JM, Vineis P, Forastiere F, Saldiva P, Yorifuji T, Loomis D. 2014. Outdoor particulate matter exposure and lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect 122:906-911; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1408092
Purpose
To study the association between television-watching in the earlier years of life and subsequent parents’ concerns about decreased visual acuity in their elementary school-aged child.
Study ...design
Population-based longitudinal cohort.
Methods
Television-watching and its daily duration, as the main exposure, and parents’ concerns for their child’s decreased visual acuity during the school years, as the main outcome, were picked up from yearly questionnaires performed for the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the Twenty-First Century involving all babies born in Japan during either of two periods: between January 10 and 17, 2001 or between July 10 and 17, 2001 (N = 47,015).
Results
Television-/video-watching as the main form of play of children at the ages of 1.5 years and 2.5 years was significantly associated with parents’ concerns for their child’s decreased visual acuity raised once or more in six surveys conducted between the ages of 7 and 12 years (odds ratio, 1.1 and 1.09; 95% CI 1.05–1.15 and 1.04–1.14, respectively). The association remained significant after adjustment for confounding variables, including child’s sex, preterm birth, multiple birth, mother’s age at delivery, mother’s and father’s education, and residential area. Longer daily duration of television-watching at 2.5 years was significantly associated with concerns for the child’s decreased visual acuity between the ages of 7 and 12 years, but not at the ages of 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 years. The association remained significant in a sensitivity analysis of 28,820 children who participated in all six surveys.
Conclusions
Longer daily exposure to television in children in the earlier years of life was associated with parents’ subsequent concerns about decreased visual acuity in their elementary school-aged child.
Background: Hardships associated with the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic can affect mental health, potentially leading to increased risk of suicide. We examined the relationship ...between the COVID-19 outbreak and suicide attempts in Okayama, Japan using information from emergency dispatches.Methods: This was a descriptive epidemiological study. We collected information on emergency dispatches in Okayama City and Kibichuo from March to August in 2018, 2019, and 2020 (n = 47,770 cases). We compared emergency dispatches and their demographic characteristics, especially focusing on suicide attempts, during these 3 years.Results: The number of emergency dispatches in 2020 decreased compared with the previous 2 years, while the number and proportion of emergency dispatches related to suicide attempts increased. This increase was more pronounced among women and those aged 25–49 years. Among women aged 25–49 years, there was a cumulative total of 43 suicide attempts in 2018 and 2019 and 73 suicide attempts in 2020.Conclusions: The number and proportion of emergency dispatches related to suicide attempts increased in 2020 compared with the previous 2 years, especially among women and those aged 25–49 years. This increase may be partly explained by hardships, such as economic losses or reduced social ties, during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common cause of childhood-acquired heart disease in developed countries. However, the etiology of KD is not known. Aberrant immune responses are considered to play ...key roles in disease initiation and breastfeeding can mature immune system in infants. We thus examined the association between breastfeeding and the development of KD.
We used a nationwide population-based longitudinal survey ongoing since 2010 and restricted participants to a total of 37 630 children who had data on their feeding during infancy. Infant feeding practice was queried at 6 to 7 months of age, and responses to questions about hospital admission for KD during the period from 6 to 30 months of age were used as outcome. We conducted logistic regression analyses controlling for child and maternal factors with formula feeding without colostrum as our reference group.
A total of 232 hospital admissions were observed. Children who were breastfed exclusively or partially were less likely to be hospitalized for KD compared with those who were formula fed without colostrum; odds ratios for hospitalization were 0.26 (95% confidence interval: 0.12-0.55) for exclusive breastfeeding and 0.27 (95% confidence interval: 0.13-0.55) for partial breastfeeding. Although the risk reduction was not statistically significant, feeding colostrum only also provided a protective effect.
We observed protective effects of breastfeeding on the development of KD during the period from 6 to 30 months of age in a nationwide, population-based, longitudinal survey in Japan, the country in which KD is most common.
Kawasaki disease is the leading cause of acquired childhood heart disease in most developed countries, but the etiology of the disease is unknown. An aberrant immune response to some environmental ...triggers may play a role and involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke can alter immune functions. We thus prospectively examined the association between early childhood exposure to maternal smoking and the incidence of Kawasaki disease. We used a large, nationwide population-based longitudinal survey ongoing since 2010 and restricted participants to a total of 38,444 children for whom information on maternal smoking was available. Maternal smoking status was ascertained at 6months of age, and responses to questions about hospital admission for Kawasaki disease between the ages of 6 and 30months were used as outcome. We conducted binomial log-linear regression analyses adjusting for children's, parental, and residential factors with children of non-smoking mothers as our reference group. Maternal smoking increased the risk of admission, in particular for the period between 6 and 18months of age, in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with children of non-smoking mothers, the children of mothers who smoked had a risk ratio of 1.83 (95% confidence interval: 1.06, 3.35) for hospital admissions between 6 and 30months of age and a risk ratio of 2.69 (95% confidence interval: 1.56, 4.64) for hospital admissions between 6 and 18months of age. Early childhood exposure to maternal smoking may increase the risk of Kawasaki disease hospitalizations in childhood.
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•Evaluated associations between exposure to maternal smoking and Kawasaki disease.•Maternal smoking increased the risk of admission of Kawasaki disease.•The risk elevated in particular for the period between 6 and 18months of age.•The risk increased in a dose-dependent manner.
Recent studies have reported adverse health effects of short-term exposure to coarse particles independent of particulate matter less than 2.5μm in diameter (PM2.5), but evidence in Asian countries ...is limited. We therefore evaluated associations between short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) and mortality among older people in Tokyo, Japan. We used a time-stratified, case-crossover design. Study participants included 664,509 older people (≥65years old) in the 23 urbanized wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, who died between January 2002 and December 2013. We obtained PM2.5 and suspended particulate matter (SPM; PM<7μm in diameter) from one general monitoring station. We calculated PM7-2.5 by subtracting PM2.5 from SPM to account for coarse particles. We then used conditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 confidence intervals (CIs). Same-day PM2.5 and PM7-2.5 were independently associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality related to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases; for example, both pollutants were positively associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality even after simultaneous adjustment for each pollutant: OR of 1.006 (95% CI: 1.003, 1.009) for PM2.5 and 1.016 (95% CI: 1.011, 1.022) for PM7-2.5. Even below concentrations stipulated by the Japanese air quality guidelines for PM2.5 and SPM (PM7), we observed adverse health effects. This study provides further evidence that acute exposure to PM2.5 and coarse particles is associated with increased risk of mortality among older people. Rigorous evaluation of air quality guidelines for daily average PM2.5 and larger particles should be continued.
Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals following a 10μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and PM7-2.5 on the event day for mortality among elderly people in Tokyo's 23 wards, Japan, 2002–2013 (multi-pollutant model) Display omitted
•Evaluated associations between short-term exposure to PM and mortality•We observed adverse effects of PM on mortality.•PM2.5 and coarse particles were independently associated with increased risk.•Observed adverse health effects even below Japanese air quality guidelines
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