Serialized article: Estimating causal effects by stratified analysis (Inoue)

Assistant Professor Kosuke Inoue’s latest article “Lecture on Causal Inference for Clinical and Epidemiological Research,” serialized in Igakukai Shimbun, has been published.

[No.4] Estimating causal effects by stratified analysis
(From Weekly Igaku Kaikai Shimbun (regular issue): No. 3427, 2021.07.05, in Japanese)

The website of Kosuke Inoue is here.

Report: Keynote Speech: Management of Lifestyle-related Disease Prevention/Improvement Programs in Coronary Illness (Sports&Wellness Week)

Naoki Kondo gave a keynote speech at the seminar “Management of lifestyle-related disease prevention/improvement programs in the wake of the Corona disaster” at Sports&Wellness Week 2021, a comprehensive exhibition featuring more than 650 companies with products and services related to sports, fitness, and health.

Sports&Wellness Week 2021
Seminar: Management of lifestyle-related disease prevention/improvement programs in the context of coronary heart disease
Date: June 18, 2021
Website: Sports & WellnessWeek2021

Keynote Speech
Naoki Kondo
“Health disparities in coronary heart disease: How to build a system to address them”

Click here to see previous lectures by Naoki Kondo.

Report: A short movie introducing the paper (Social participation, company size of the longest-held job)

Naoki Kondo co-authored and Satoru Kanamori of Teikyo University Graduate School published a new paper in the Journal of Occupational Health. Using data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES), the paper reports on the relationship between the size of the company in which the oldest Japanese men worked the longest and social participation and mortality.

We have made a short movie to introduce the paper. You can download it here.

Kanamori S, Kondo N, Takamiya T, Kikuchi H, Inoue S, Tsuji T, Kai Y, Muto G, Kondo K. Social participation and mortality according to company size of the longest-held job among older men in Japan: A 6-year follow-up study from the JAGES. J Occup Health. 2021 Jan;63(1):e12216. doi: 10.1002/1348-9585.12216. PMID: 33792124.

Report: Symposium (Digital inclusion of older people: harnessing digital technologies to promote healthy ageing in the Western Pacific Region)

Naoki Kondo spoke at the symposium “Digital inclusion of older people: harnessing digital technologies to promote healthy aging in the Western Pacific Region” held offline (Beijing) and online on June 23, 2021.

In the symposium, he spoke about “Understanding the Role of Internet Access on Health and Health Equity toward Healthy Ageing in the Western Pacific Region.

 

New Paper: Mobility restrictions were associated with reductions in COVID-19 incidence early in the pandemic: evidence from a real-time evaluation in 34 countries

We published a paper from Scientific Reports.

Oh J, Lee HY, Khuong QL, Markuns JF, Bullen C, Barrios OEA, Hwang SS, Suh YS, McCool J, Kachur SP, Chan CC, Kwon S, Kondo N, Hoang VM, Moon JR, Rostila M, Norheim OF, You M, Withers M, Li M, Lee EJ, Benski C, Park S, Nam EW, Gottschalk K, Kavanagh MM, Tran TGH, Lee JK, Subramanian SV, McKee M, Gostin LO. Mobility restrictions were associated with reductions in COVID-19 incidence early in the pandemic: evidence from a real-time evaluation in 34 countries. Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 2;11(1):13717. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92766-z. PMID: 34215764.

Abstract

Most countries have implemented restrictions on mobility to prevent the spread of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), entailing considerable societal costs but, at least initially, based on limited evidence of effectiveness. We asked whether mobility restrictions were associated with changes in the occurrence of COVID-19 in 34 OECD countries plus Singapore and Taiwan. Our data sources were the Google Global Mobility Data Source, which reports different types of mobility, and COVID-19 cases retrieved from the dataset curated by Our World in Data. Beginning at each country’s 100th case, and incorporating a 14-day lag to account for the delay between exposure and illness, we examined the association between changes in mobility (with January 3 to February 6, 2020 as baseline) and the ratio of the number of newly confirmed cases on a given day to the total number of cases over the past 14 days from the index day (the potentially infective ‘pool’ in that population), per million population, using LOESS regression and logit regression. In two-thirds of examined countries, reductions of up to 40% in commuting mobility (to workplaces, transit stations, retailers, and recreation) were associated with decreased cases, especially early in the pandemic. Once both mobility and incidence had been brought down, further restrictions provided little additional benefit. These findings point to the importance of acting early and decisively in a pandemic.

New Paper: Disability and psychological distress in nine countries of the former Soviet Union

We published a paper from J Affect Disord.

Stickley A, Kondo N, Roberts B, Kizilova K, Waldman K, Oh H, Inoue Y, Shin JI, Shakespeare T, McKee M. Disability and psychological distress in nine countries of the former Soviet Union. J Affect Disord. 2021 Jun 2;292:782-787. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.061. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34175591.

Abstract

Background: People with disabilities (PWD) are at increased risk of poor mental health. However, this association and the pathways involved remain under-researched in many parts of the world. This study examined the association between disability and psychological distress in nine countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU).

Methods: Data were analysed from 18,000 adults aged ≥18 years collected during the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey undertaken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine in 2010 and 2011. Information was obtained on disability status, the severity of the disability and psychological distress. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate associations.

Results: In a fully adjusted combined country analysis, disability was associated with over two times higher odds for psychological distress (odds ratio [OR]: 2.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.86-2.58). The strength of the association varied across the individual countries. Among PWD more severe disability was associated with significantly higher odds for psychological distress (OR: 2.12, 95%CI: 1.26-3.55).

Limitations: The data were cross-sectional and disability status was self-reported, possibly resulting in underreporting.

Conclusions: Disability is associated with worse psychological health in FSU countries, especially among those with more severe disabilities. As poor mental health may also increase the risk of negative outcomes in PWD, this finding highlights the importance of the early detection and treatment of mental disorders in PWD in these countries.

New paper: Disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union

We published a paper from Disabil Health J.

Stickley A, Kondo N, Richardson E, Leinsalu M, Waldman K, Oh H, Inoue Y, Shakespeare T, McKee M. Disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union. Disabil Health J. 2021 May 28:101123. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101123. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34147415.

Abstract

Background: People with disabilities (PWD) often face structural and other barriers to community involvement and may therefore be at risk of loneliness. Yet, so far, this issue has received little attention.

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU).

Methods: Data were analyzed from 18000 respondents aged ≥18 that came from the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey that was undertaken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine in 2010/11. Respondents reported on whether they had a disability (no/yes) and its severity. A single-item question was used to assess loneliness. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations.

Results: Across the countries, 6.8% of respondents reported being disabled. In a fully adjusted combined country analysis, disability was associated with higher odds for loneliness (odds ratio: 1.30, 95% confidence interval: 1.06-1.60). In an analysis restricted to PWD, individuals in the most severe disability category (Group 1) had over two times higher odds for loneliness when compared to those in the least severe disability category (Group 3).

Conclusions: Disability is associated with higher odds for reporting loneliness in the FSU countries and this association is especially strong among those who are more severely disabled. An increased focus on the relationship between disability and loneliness is now warranted given the increasing recognition of loneliness as a serious public health problem that is associated with a number of detrimental outcomes.

Keywords: Adult population; Disabled; HITT survey; Lonely.

New paper: Sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation among governmental welfare recipients in Japan: a retrospective cohort study

We published a paper from Int J Equity Health.

Nishioka D, Ueno K, Kino S, Aida J, Kondo N. Sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation among governmental welfare recipients in Japan: a retrospective cohort study. Int J Equity Health. 2021 Jun 16;20(1):141. doi: 10.1186/s12939-021-01473-8. PMID: 34134717.

Abstract

Background: Maintaining oral health is one of the global public health challenges. Income and out-of-pocket payments for dental care services are predictors of dental care utilisation. Although public assistance programmes guarantee income security for impoverished people, access barriers other than financial costs may cause unmet dental care needs. We aimed to explore the potential sociodemographic factors determining dental care utilisation among recipients of public assistance in Japan using linkage data of public assistance database and medical assistance claim data administered by municipalities.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study involving a sample of public assistance recipients. We extracted the recipients’ sociodemographic data (age, sex, household number, employment status, nationality, disability certificates, and long-term care status) in January 2016 and observed them until December 2016 to identify incidences of dental care utilisation as outcomes. We performed a multivariable modified Poisson regression analysis with a robust standard error estimator to calculate the incidence ratio (IR) of dental care utilisation in each variable.

Results: We identified a total of 4497 recipients at risk. Among them, 839 recipients used dental care services. Younger age was associated with a higher incidence of dental care utilisation. The female recipients had a higher incidence of dental care utilisation when compared to the male ones (adjusted IR, 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.38). Immigrant recipients had a higher incidence of dental care utilisation than the Japanese ones (IR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.16-2.01). Recipients with mental disabilities had higher incidences than those without disability certificates (IR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.08-1.56).

Conclusions: Non-financial sociodemographic inequities in dental care utilisation stemming from age, sex, nationality, and presence of mental disability were found despite minimum income protection and equitable financial dental service access amongst public assistance recipients in Japan. Providing targeted preventive care and treatments for dental care among underserved populations is required to tackle oral health inequities.

Keywords: Free dental care access, Japan; Oral health inequities; Poverty; Public assistance.

Report: Twitter Live hosted by American Heart Association

On May 25, 2021, Assistant Professor Kosuke Inoue took the stage at a twitter live hosted by the American Heart Association.

He was selected as a speaker for the twitter live because he published a paper in Hypertension in 2020 and the paper was selected as a High Impact Paper for Fall 2020.

Inoue K, Goldwater D, Allison M, Seeman T, Kestenbaum BR, Watson KE. Serum Aldosterone Concentration, Blood Pressure, and Coronary Artery Calcium: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Hypertension. 2020 Jul;76(1):113-120. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.120.15006. Epub 2020 May 18. Erratum in: Hypertension. 2021 Mar 3;77(3):e34. PMID: 32418495.

New paper: Disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union

We published a paper from Disability and Health Journal.

Stickley, A., Kondo, N., Richardson, E., Leinsalu, M., Waldman, K., Oh, H., … & McKee, M. (2021). Disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union. Disability and Health Journal, 101123.

Abstract

Background

People with disabilities (PWD) often face structural and other barriers to community involvement and may therefore be at risk of loneliness. Yet, so far, this issue has received little attention.

Objective

This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between disability and loneliness in nine countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU).

Methods

Data were analyzed from 18000 respondents aged ≥ 18 that came from the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey that was undertaken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine in 2010/11. Respondents reported on whether they had a disability (no/yes) and its severity. A single item question was used to assess loneliness. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations.

Results

Across the countries, 6.8% of respondents reported being disabled. In a fully adjusted combined country analysis, disability was associated higher odds for loneliness (odds ratio: 1.30, 95% confidence interval: 1.06-1.60). In an analysis restricted to PWD, individuals in the most severe disability category (Group 1) had over two times higher odds for loneliness when compared to those in the least severe disability category (Group 3).

Conclusions

Disability is associated with higher odds for reporting loneliness in the FSU countries and this association is especially strong among those who are more severely disabled. An increased focus on the relationship between disability and loneliness is now warranted given the increasing recognition of loneliness as a serious public health problem that is associated with a number of detrimental outcomes.

Keywords

Disabled
Lonely
HITT survey
Adult population