Questionnaires were administered to parents of children eligible to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to assess changes in parents’ awareness of the HPV vaccine and their needs regarding the vaccine after reports of its serious adverse events in the media. Parents lacked sufficient awareness of cervical cancer and no difference in awareness level was seen after the reports. However, a difference was seen in parents’ awareness of HPV vaccination after the reports of adverse events. This is thought to be because parents did not receive consistent information before and after the reports of the adverse events and because they had always been subconsciously concerned about the vaccination, due to a lack of sufficient awareness of the HPV vaccine. In particular, parents’ concern about side effects was the factor accounting for the difference in their awareness regarding HPV vaccination for children. This suggests that it is necessary to establish measures for providing parents with consistent information and knowledge on HPV vaccine.

It has been suggested that comprehensive dietary variables and depressive states are associated, but the relationship in Japanese university students when adjusted for psychological factors is not clear. We investigated the association between food-intake patterns and depressive states after adjusting for the influence of psychological factors in university students enrolled in a registered dietician training course in Japan. 256 students who participated in this study were administered questionnaires, and they underwent a physical measurement survey. Of the 240 students who completed the survey items, food-intake patterns were evaluated by principal component analysis from the results of the self-administered food frequency questionnaires, and the principal component score of each individual’s pattern were calculated. Depressive states were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratios of depressive states (CES-D ≥ 16) with adjustments for potential confounding variables, such as psychological factors. This study was conducted with the approval of the ethics committee of the University of Human Arts and Sciences Ethics. We identified three food-intake patterns: “A Japanese food-intake pattern of side dish”, “A western food-intake pattern of side dish”, “A staple food intake pattern”. “A Japanese food-intake pattern of side dish” characterized by high intakes of seaweeds, mushrooms, green and yellow vegetables, seafood, light-colored vegetables, potatoes, and pickles was associated with lower rates of depressive states. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of having depressive states for “A Japanese food-intake pattern of side dish” was 0.64 (confidence in tervals = 0.46-0.89, P value = 0.008) . Our results suggested that “A Japanese food-intake pattern of side dish” may be related to decreased prevalence of depressive states in Japanese university students.