Objectives:

This study aimed to examine the reciprocal exchange of social support between participants in preventive care activities for long-term care in urban areas, as well as its balance with daily relationships with neighborhoods.

Methods:

We distributed an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire targeting 872 elderly people involved in preventive care activities.

Social support between participants in preventive care activities was determined using a scale for measuring the degree of social support exchange regarding to instrumental and emotional support. We classified into four patterns: “high-exchange type”, “high-give type”, “high-receive type” and “low-exchange type”. The connection with the neighborhood was evaluated about the degree and the number of people. The relationship between the patterns of balance of reciprocal exchange of social support and daily relationships with neighborhoods was analyzed by multiple logistic regression.

Results:

Valid data were collected from 554 elderly people (63.5%). Our analysis found that the median of instrumental support receive score was a minimum of 3 points, so there were few occurrences of instrumental support with regard to the reciprocal exchange of social support by those involved in preventive care activities. However, there were 229 elderly people that were receiving and giving emotional support with each other.

There were significantly higher daily relationships of the degree (OR=2.16:95%CI1.14-4.09) and the number of people (OR=1.87:95%CI1.01-3.45) between the elderly who had a well-balanced reciprocal exchange than between those who had an insufficient level of reciprocal exchange of support.

Conclusion:

Our results imply that well-balanced reciprocal exchange of emotional support through participation in preventive care activities is effective in promoting daily relationships with neighborhoods.

The effects of smoking on physical and mental health were assessed in a cohort of 3,376 middle-aged men by a health questionnaire, the Total Health Index, and by mortality risk ratio. Participants were grouped into the four following smoking classes: never smoked, smoke 1-19, 20-29, and ≥30 cigarettes a day. The Index has 15 physical and mental symptom scales that assess his perceived health of respiratory organs, digestive organs, short temper, depression, aggressiveness, et al. Each scale score was calculated as the sum of the positive number of symptoms, and a higher score indicates more symptoms. Starting from never smoked class, mean respiratory organ scale score increase linearly depending on the heavier smoking classes. Mean digestive organ scale score and the other three scale scores also showed linear dose-response relationship with the three classes of increasing number of cigarettes smoked a day.

The other seven scale scores showed not a linear but J-shaped dose-response relationship. The never-smoked, smoke 1-19, and 20-29 cigarettes per day classes showed no increased response; only the heaviest class, smoke ≥30 cigs or more a day, had significantly higher mean scores for vague complaints, short temper, anxiety, depression, mouth, eye, and neurotics. Mortality risk of lung cancer was also high in heavy smokers (RR＝3.71). Men of depression included more heavy smokers than the other non-depression men (P＝0.0014).

Objective: Every disaster had drawn attention to food stockpiles. There is a possibility that its quality and quantity have changed through disaster experiences. In order to help to consider future strategies, we clarified the countermeasures that had not been progressed while they had been acknowledged as a problem for long time and the areas moved ahead from the events and newspaper articles in the past 30 years.

Methods: Articles published in Yomiuri and Asahi Newspapers between 1879 and 2018 were searched by a keyword query on “food stockpile.” The authors independently reviewed 530 articles and excluded 210 irrelevant ones. The remaining 320 articles were ordered chronologically and grouped into ten categories.

Results: The number of articles increased not only after natural disasters but also during Year 2000 problem and the pandemic of influenza A (H1N1). Countermeasures to people stranded due to mass transit disruptions and the food stockpiling bill had not been progressed. Recommended quality and quantity of food stocks were improved after the Great East Japan Earthquake and publication of the final report on the Nankai Trough Giant Earthquake Countermeasures while actual stockpiles did not meet the recommendation.

Discussion: Other than natural disasters, the increased number of articles could be caused by people’s concern about the risks of technology accidents and infections and social needs for information. Given the fact that stockpile by companies and food stocks for one week have not been achieved, obligatory and financially supported measures such as the food stockpiling law would be necessary.