In Japan, dietary habits have greatly changed since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak; we examined factors related to dietary changes. An online cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in November 2020 among 6000 Japanese adults (aged 20–64 years) registered with a research company and gathered data on demographics, socioeconomic factors, medical history, COVID-19 status of the respondent’s family and neighbors, fear of COVID-19, and changes in lifestyle and dietary habits since the COVID-19 outbreak. To the question “Have you made healthier changes to your dietary habits compared with the dietary habits before the spread of COVID-19 (1 year ago, November 2019)?”, 1215 (20.3%), 491 (8.2%), and 4294 (71.6%) participants answered that their dietary habits were healthier, unhealthier, and unchanged, respectively. Healthier and unhealthier dietary habits were associated with greater fear of COVID-19, altered exercise and sleep times, and smoking. Unhealthy habits were positively associated with living alone, decreasing household income, colleagues with COVID-19, stress, and weight loss/gain. Annual household income, changing household income, COVID-19 in friends, health literacy, exercise frequency, weight loss, and starting smoking were positively associated with healthier dietary changes. The generalizability of these results and strategies to inculcate healthy diets in this “new normal” should be investigated.

Data on the long-term risks of non-AIDS defining cancers (NADCs) are limited, especially in Asians. The incidence of NADCs may correlate with the epidemiological trend of cancers or oncogenic infection in each country, and thus the target cancers would be different between Western and Asian countries. We aimed to elucidate the incidence of NADCs and its predictive factors in Asian HIV-infected patients. Subjects were HIV-infected patients (n = 1001) periodically followed-up for 9 years on average. NADCs were diagnosed by histopathology and/ or imaging findings. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) were calculated as the ratio of the observed to expected number of NADCs for comparison with an age-and sex-matched general population. Cox’s proportional hazards model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR). During the median follow-up of 9 years, the 10-year cumulative incidence of NADCs was 6.4%.At NADC diagnosis, half of patients presented at age 40–59 years and with advanced tumor stage. Compared with the age-and sex-matched general population, HIV-infected patients are at increased risk for liver cancer (SIR, 4.7), colon cancer (SIR, 2.1), and stomach cancer (SIR, 1.8). In multivariate analysis, a predictive model for NADCs was developed that included age group (40–49, 50–59, 60–69, and ≥ 70 years), smoker, HIV infection through blood transmission, and injection drug use (IDU), and HBV co-infection. The c-statistic for the NADCs predictive model was 0.8 (95%CI, 0.8–0.9, P < 0.001). The higher 10-year incidence rate of NADCs was associated with increasing prediction score. Liver and colon cancer risk was elevated in Asian HIV-infected individuals, similar to in Western populations, whereas stomach cancer risk was characteristically elevated in Asian populations. Half of Asian NADC patients were aged 40–59 years and had advanced-stage disease at diagnosis. Periodic cancer screening may be warranted for high-risk subpopulations with smoking habit, HIV infection through blood transmission or IDU, and HBV co-infection, and screening should be started over 40 years of age.

We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of glaucoma screening using fundus photography combined with optical coherence tomography and determine the agreement between ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents. We used a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination dataset obtained from 503 cases (1006 eyes). Of the 1006 eyes, 132 had a confirmed glaucoma diagnosis. Overall, 24 doctors, comprising two groups (ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents, 12 individuals/group), analyzed the data presented in three screening strategies as follows: (1) fundus photography alone, (2) fundus photography + optical coherence tomography, and (3) fundus photography + optical coherence tomography + comprehensive examination. We investigated the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity). The respective sensitivity and specificity values for the diagnostic accuracy obtained by 24 doctors, 12 ophthalmologists, and 12 ophthalmology residents were as follows: (1) fundus photography: sensitivity, 55.4%, 55.4%, and 55.4%; specificity, 91.8%, 94.0%, and 89.6%; (2) fundus photography + OCT: sensitivity, 80.0%, 82.3%, and 77.8%; specificity, 91.7%, 92.9%, and 90.6%; and (3) fundus photography + OCT + comprehensive examination: sensitivity 78.4%, 79.8%, and 77.1%; specificity, 92.7%, 94.0%, and 91.3%. The diagnostic accuracy of glaucoma screening significantly increased with optical coherence tomography. Following its addition, ophthalmologists could more effectively improve the diagnostic accuracy than ophthalmology residents. Screening accuracy is improved when optical coherence tomography is added to fundus photography.

Background: Birthweight has been declining consistently for more than 30 years in Japan. This rapid rise in low birthweight is one of the worst among the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. We examined potential determinants of birthweight decline in Japan. Methods: We used population-based birth certificate data from vital statistics records and retrieved 40,968,266 birth certificates of neonates born between 1980 and 2004. We analyzed time trends using linear regression analysis in examining whether the decline in birthweight could be explained by obstetrical variables such as gestational age and multiple gestations. Results: From 1980 to 2004, we observed a decline in mean birthweight with a yearly effect of − 8.07 g, which became steeper after 1985, persisted until 1999, and plateaued thereafter. After adjusting for gestational age, gender, birth order, multiple gestations, and fathers’ age, the yearly effect between 1980 and 2004 persisted at − 5.13 g. Conclusion: Recent decreases in birthweight among Japanese neonates were not fully explained by trends in gestational age, gender, birth order, multiple gestations, and fathers’ age. Thus, additional factors such as pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index (BMI) and maternal diet should be considered. Reducing the rate of induced deliveries and improving the BMI or diet of young women should be a public health priority.

The goal was to summarize studies comparing the accuracy of web-based dietary assessments with those of conventional face-to-face or paper-based assessments using 24-h dietary recall or dietary record methods in the general population. Using two databases, mean differences and correlation coefficients (CCs) for intakes of energy, macronutrients, sodium, vegetables, and fruits were extracted from each study independently by the authors. We also collected information regarding usability from articles reporting this. From 17 articles included in this review, the mean dietary intake differences in the web-based dietary assessment compared to conventional methods, were −11.5–16.1% for energy, −12.1–14.9% for protein, −16.7–17.6% for fat, −10.8–8.0% for carbohydrates, −11.2–9.6% for sodium, −27.4–3.9% for vegetables, and −5.1–47.6% for fruits. The CC was 0.17–0.88 for energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, and sodium, and 0.23–0.85 for vegetables and fruits. In three out of four studies reporting usability, more than half of the participants preferred the web-based dietary assessment. In conclusion, % difference and CC of dietary intake were acceptable in both web-based dietary records and 24-h dietary recalls. The findings from this review highlight the possibility of wide-spread application of the web-based dietary assessment in the future.