The relationship between lifestyle, social characteristics and obesity in 3-year-old Japanese children.

It has been observed that obese children receive genetic and environmental effects that are associated with them being overweight. With regard to the latter, lifestyles such as eating habits and physical activity have been focused on. In the present study, the social characteristics which would dominate their lifestyles were investigated as background variables. For this purpose, 9668 Japanese children aged three years who were all born in Toyama prefecture, Japan, in 1998, served as birth cohort subjects. For the comparison between obese (Kaup Index; mass in kg/(height in m)2 > or = 18) and nonobese (Kaup index < 18) children, irregular snack intake, physical inactivity and reduced sleeping hours were chosen as statistically significant obesity-related lifestyle indicators for the children. For social characteristics, family construction (expanded family with grandparents/nonexpanded family), main caregiver (mother/other), attending a nursery school (yes/no) and mother's employment (full-time worker/other) were chosen. These were significantly associated with the obesity-related lifestyles mentioned above using multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for other variables of social characteristics as well as for gender and birth month (July-December/January-June). The two greatest population-attributable risk percentages were observed for mother as main caregiver (-36.5%) and attending a nursery school (-28.9%) for irregular snack intake. Therefore, these two social characteristics substantially reduced the number of children with irregular snack intake. On the other hand, the two social characteristics were reversed in children with reduced sleeping hours (population-attributable risk percentage of mother as main caregiver: 15.4%; attending a nursery school: 17%). In contrast with favourable effects on snack intake these social characteristics showed an adverse influence on the sleeping habits of children.

Infectious states of human T lymphotropic virus type I and hepatitis B virus among Japanese immigrants in the Republic of Bolivia.

Serologic tests for human T lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and hepatitis B virus infections were conducted in 1986 in two Japanese immigrant colonies located in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. A total of 322 adults (283 Japanese and 39 Bolivians) over age 35 years and 305 children (166 Japanese, 124 Bolivians, and 15 of mixed blood) aged 8-17 years were sampled at the time of a routine health checkup. The prevalence of antibody to HTLV-I was 17% in first-generation Japanese immigrants and 6% in second- or third-generation Japanese children. Prevalences among native Bolivians were 3% and 5% in adults and children, respectively. Seropositive Japanese immigrants and mothers showed clustering according to birthplace in endemic areas of Japan. The prevalence of either hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) or antibody to HBsAg was 48% in Japanese adults, 21% in Japanese children, 13% in Bolivian adults, and 1% in Bolivian children. Seropositive adults did not show clustering according to birthplace, but children in one colony showed clustering and a narrow age range. A correlation of seropositivity between husbands and wives was found only for HTLV-I. The seropositivity was independent of whether an HTLV-I or a hepatitis B virus infection marker was present.

Prevalence of antibodies to human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I and human immunodeficiency virus in Japanese immigrant colonies in Bolivia and Bolivian natives.

This study was performed to estimate human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus type-I (HTLV-I) infection and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Japanese immigrant colonies in Bolivia, where no seroepidemiological study of HTLV-I or HIV has ever been reported, among 647 healthy adults and children of Japanese descent and Bolivian natives living in the same colonies. The overall prevalence of HTLV-I antibody was 12.6% (59/469) among Japanese immigrant populations, but increased with age, being 16.2% (49/303) among adults and 6.0% (10/166) among children; no significant difference in relation to sex was noted. The first generation immigrants (issei) from Kyushu, the large southwestern island of Japan where adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is endemic, had 19.0% (49/258) HTLV-I seroprevalence, while issei from outside Kyushu had none (0/39). Among Bolivian members of the community, consisting mostly of Indians and persons of Spanish descent, the HTLV-I seroprevalence was 4.3% (7/164) overall, 2.4% (1/42) among adults and 4.9% (6/122) among children. No antibody to HIV was detected among Japanese or Bolivian populations. The results of this study show that: (1) there is a considerable number of HTLV-I carriers among Japanese immigrant populations in Bolivia, especially among immigrants from Kyushu, (2) there exist some HTLV-I carriers among Bolivian natives, raising the possibility of HTLV-I transmission by co-habitation with Japanese immigrants, (3) HIV is far from endemic in this district of Bolivia, at present.

PIP: This study was performed to estimate human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus type-I (HTLV-I) infection and human immunodeficiency virus )HIV) infection in Japanese immigrant colonies in Bolivia, where no seroepidemiological study of HTLV-I or HIV has ever been reported, among 847 healthy adults and children of Japanese descent and Bolivian natives living in the same colonies. The overall prevalence of HTLV-I antibody was 12.6% (59/469) among Japanese immigrant populations, but increased with age, being 16.2% (49/303) among adults and 6.0% (10/166) among children; no significant difference in relation to sex was noted. The 1st generation immigrants (issei) from Kyushu, the large southwestern island of Japan where adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is endemic, had 19.0% (49/258) HTLV-I seroprevalence, while issei from outside Kyushu had none (0/39). Among Bolivian members of the community, consisting mostly of Indians and persons of Spanish descent, the HTLV-I seroprevalence was 4.3% (7/164) overall, 2.4% (91/42) among adults, and 4.9% (6/122) among children. No antibody to HIV was detected among Japanese or Bolivian populations. The results of this study show that: there is a considerable number of HTLV-I carriers among Japanese immigrants in Bolivia, especially among immigrants from Kyushu, there exist some HTLV- I carriers among Bolivian natives, raising the possibility of HTLV-I transmission by cohabitation with Japanese immigrants, and HIV is far from endemic in this district of Bolivia at the present time.