Author: takeda

Press release：Entertainment-based health program incorporates game elements to improve metabolic syndrome and reduce weight, abdominal circumference, and obesity（Hakuhodo, Checkup Championship)

Doctoral student Nagata and Assistant Professor Sato’s  paper has been published in Preventive Medicine.

The Social Epidemiology Department, together with Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc., has demonstrated in a study of metabolic syndrome that people who participated in the new workplace health promotion program “Checkup championship” improved their health checkup results compared to those who did not participate.

” Checkup championship” is a health program developed by Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. that utilizes several elements of behavioral science, such as commitment, incentives, and gamification, and incorporates innovations to make it enjoyable.

The results showed that people who participated in an entertaining health program had improved metabolic syndrome-related test values compared to those who did not participate in the program. In addition, we observed greater reductions in weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol among participants who were with two or more risk factors for metabolic syndrome than other participants.

Our findings suggest that participation in a health promotion program that incorporates behavioral science elements may lead to improvement of metabolic syndrome and correction of health disparities in the workplace.

Nagata H., Sato K., Haseda M., Kobayashi Y., Kondo N. A novel behavioral science-based health checkup program and subsequent metabolic risk reductions in a workplace: Checkup championship. Preventive Medicine. 2022 Nov; 164:107271.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.107271

Abstract

The effectiveness of general health checkups and lifestyle counseling has been questioned. This study examined whether a workplace health promotion program implemented during a health checkup was associated with metabolic syndrome-related indicators. Hakuhodo DY group, one of Japan’s largest advertising agencies, implemented a behavioral science-based program called “Checkup Championship” (Kenshin-sen in Japanese) in 2019, in which all employees could voluntarily participate. We studied 3697 employees (2818 men and 879 women, mean age: 40.7 years), consisting of 1509 program participants and 2188 non-participants. The characteristics of participants and non-participants were balanced using inverse probability weighting. We used their data from the health checkups in 2018 and 2019 together with other covariates and performed a difference-in-differences analysis using a linear mixed model. After program implementation, greater reductions were observed among participants compared with non-participants in weight (−0.66 kg, 95% confidence interval: −0.84 to −0.47), body mass index (−0.23 kg/m2, −0.29 to −0.16), waist circumference (−0.67 cm, −0.91 to −0.43), systolic blood pressure (−1.13 mmHg, −2.10 to −0.16), and diastolic blood pressure (−0.84 mmHg, −1.53 to −0.15). In addition, we observed greater reductions in weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol among participants who were with two or more risk factors for metabolic syndrome than other participants. We found that participation in a health checkup program based on behavioral science was associated with reduced metabolic syndrome-related indicators. There may be room for improvement in the effectiveness of general health checkups.

 

Click here for Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. news release.

Click here for more information about the “Checkup championship”

Click here for press release.

 

 

 

 

 

News: Launch of Joint Research with Mercari and Urban Renaissance Agency (Prof. Kondo)

On October 3, 2022, our laboratory, Mercari Inc. and the Urban Renaissance Agency announced the ” Launch of Joint Research on Mental and Physical Health of the Older Adults and the Use of Flea market Apps”.  We will research the influence of the “social connection” felt through the use of flea market apps on health and behavioral changes toward healthy living.

The press release was introduced by several medias.

The Nikkei, October 3, 2022

Yahoo News ( Nippon TV news)

Click here to visit the Mercari Inc. website.

Click here to visit the Urban Renaissance Agency website.

Mercari_Kyoto University_ Urban Renaissance Agency Joint Research Press Release

 

News: National Academy of Medicine “Health Longevity Grand Challenge Catalyst Award” 2020 (Prof. Kondo)

Professor Kondo received the National Academy of Medicine “Health Longevity Grand Challenge Catalyst Award” in 2020.

This award was presented for “Novel Implementation Science Toward Healthy Longevity Based on Community Multi-sectoral Partnerships Using Big Health Data”.

The Healthy Longevity Global Competition website is here.

 

News: Assumed a member of the G7 Global Health Task Force for 2023 (Prof. Kondo)

Professor Kondo assumed a member of the 2023 G7 Global Health Task Force for Japanese Government.

This Task Force has been established under the “Global Health and Human Security” Steering Committee launched by the Japan Center for International Exchange.

The objective is to compile recommendations on the global health agenda for the G7 Summit to be held in Hiroshima next year.

Japan Center for International Exchange　2023 G7 Global Health Task Force.

News: Global Health Strategy: released by the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan (Prof. Kondo)

The Global Health Strategy based on the presentations and discussions among the members of Global Health Strategy Expert Task Force and guest speakers has been finalized and released by the Headquarters for Healthcare Policy, the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan. The report includes several statements related to Prof. Kondo’s opinions as follows (translated by the Department of Social Epidemiology, Kyoto University).

＊Strengthening Community Functions

“The perspective of strengthening community functions, promoting primary health care (PHC), and implementing health promotion activities is required, especially considering that the community is an important foundation of the health system and that the richness of the community’s social capital is to be maintained. To achieve these goals, the community and local government organizations are required to take the following actions. One of the most important ways to achieve this is to focus on strengthening the capacity of human resources and capacity for health service delivery in communities and local government organizations, as well as to develop people’s own knowledge, values, skills, and other competencies through health education. Such efforts need to take into account not only the supply side but also the demand side, including appropriate demand stimulation through health education and efforts to improve the social environment and regulations to promote behavioral change.”

“Civil society thus has a significant role to play in realizing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and strengthening the capacity to deal with public health crises. From the perspective of UHC, civil society can contribute to enhancing social capital, including human resource development at the grassroots level, which is essential for the resilience of health systems in developing countries, as well as reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities, in addition to having a role as a provider of health care services.These also contribute to the realization of a new era of human security. In addition, review and make recommendations on policies conducted by the government from the perspective of the beneficiaries. In terms of public health crises, the following contributions can be considered: a resilient community can quickly detect a crisis and take appropriate action, and appropriate risk communication can be achieved through collaboration with the media. ”

“In terms of public health crises, the following contributions can be considered: a resilient community can quickly detect a crisis and take appropriate action, and appropriate risk communication can be achieved through collaboration with the media. To expand these contributions through collaboration between civil society and ODA, it is necessary to strengthen collaboration on soft aspects in addition to community-level health infrastructure, depending on the characteristics of each form of ODA assistance. ”

＊Ensuring Equity

“The focus is not only on ensuring equitable access to health care services, but also on reducing the resulting disparities in individual health status.”

“To realize equitable access to health care services for women, youth and vulnerable groups (e.g., poor, children, older people, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, indigenous people, sexual minorities, migrants and refugees), it is important not only to strengthen health systems, but also social security systems such as social welfare and pensions, interventions in social determinants of health, and coordinated efforts by all sectors in health beyond the medical social security system.These will help address challenges not only to the supply side but also to the demand side of health care services. It is important to pay more attention to vulnerable groups and, simultaneously, to create an environment of protection, empowerment, and solidarity for these vulnerable groups during public health crises, so that crises do not further contribute to health disparities. In addition, from a primary health care perspective, it is necessary to support these vulnerable groups in taking ownership of their health challenges.”

＊The importance of equitable digital infrastructure development

“It is also important to work with WHO and other organizations to support countries’ proactive efforts to improve literacy in the use of digital health, while paying attention to the impact of disparities in access to digital technology on UHC, and to strengthen cooperation with international NGOs and local private companies working to introduce innovative technologies to the field in developing countries.”

In the presentation session, titled “Post-COVID-19 Global Health Themes to which Japan is Expected to Contribute: The Example of Promoting Scientific Community-Building UHC systems for Healthy Ageing with a Focus on Health Disparities” , Prof. Kondo spoke about the social determinants of health, the importance of measures to address health disparities, the dissemination of models of health care for the elderly such as the community integrated care system that Japan, the world’s most aged nation, has built, scientific methods for promoting such models, the importance of developing Internet infrastructure, and the importance of promoting collaboration and personnel exchange between domestic health and global health research.”

Prof. Kondo’s report on October 13, 2021 can be downloaded from the following link (in Japanese).

The 3rd Global Health Strategy Expert Task Force

 

 

News:Release of the revised version of “Views and Action Guidelines on Health Disparities” by the Japan Primary Care Association (Professor Kondo)

The Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Review Committee, of which Naoki Kondo is vice chair, led the revision work.

Japan  Primary Care Association

Revised version of “Views and Action Guidelines on Health Disparities”PDF

The main revisions are as follows

・Added concepts such as “Social prescribing” and “Inclusive Society”.

・Added important information related to research and policy advocacy. .

・Modified wording to reflect the message to all primary care providers, not just specific health care professionals.

・Added content useful for portfolio creation for medical residents.

・Selected more thoughtful wording and terminology.

・Improved readability

Press conferences will be held on the following dates.

Click here for more details.

 

 

Award: Best Teacher Award 2021（School of Public Health) (Professor Kondo)

Professor Kondo received the Best Teacher Award 2021 in the Kyoto University School of Public Health.

The Best Teacher Award is an award given by the School of Public Health to faculty members who have given high quality classes in order to improve the quality of teaching, and is determined by the results of student voting.

Click here to access the website of the School of Public Health.

New Paper: Supporting municipalities by community organizing intervention reduced the three-year mortality risk for older male residents by 0.92 times.(Assitant Professor Maho Haseda)

Assistant Professor Maho Haseda’s paper has been published in the Health & Place.

Haseda M, Takagi D, Stickley A, Kondo K, & Kondo N. (2022). Effectiveness of a community organizing intervention on mortality and its equity among older residents in Japan: A JAGES quasi-experimental study. Health & place, 74, 102764.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102764

Abstract
Interventions that involve key aspects of community organizing, such as quantitative community assessments and organizational partnership support for the community, may promote residents’ health. We evaluated the effectiveness of this form of intervention on mortality and its variability across individual-level household equivalized income tertiles, comparing 52,858 residents aged 65 and above in 12 intervention municipalities to 39,006 residents in nine control municipalities in Japan. During 1,166 days of follow-up, the adjusted hazard ratio for cumulative mortality among men in the intervention municipalities was 0.92 (95% confidence interval: 0.86, 0.99) compared to those in the control group, with similar results being observed across all income levels. Active utilization of data to evaluate communities and building intersectoral partnerships might lower older male residents’ mortality risk, regardless of their income status.

Click here for press release.

New Paper: Community reciprocity was associated with 10% less risk of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic(Assistant Professor Koryu Sato)

Assistant Professor Koryu Sato’s paper has been published in the Health & Place.

Sato, K., Kondo, N., Kondo, K. Pre-pandemic individual- and community-level social capital and depressive symptoms during COVID-19: A longitudinal study of Japanese older adults in 2019-21. Health & Place, 74; 102772 (2022).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102772

Abstract
During a pandemic, it is important to know whether social capital can mitigate the risk of mental disorders, given the restrictions on social interactions. However, evidence using longitudinal data is scarce. This study examined the association between pre-pandemic social capital and depressive symptoms during COVID-19 among older adults. We used longitudinal data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES), including 8291 participants aged 65 or older who were physically and cognitively independent and not depressed at baseline. We conducted baseline and follow-up mail surveys in ten municipalities in Japan from November 2019 to January 2020 (pre-pandemic period) and from November 2020 to February 2021 (pandemic period), respectively. We measured depressive symptoms using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Social capital was measured with three validated subscales, namely, civic participation, social cohesion, and reciprocity. We performed a multilevel logistic regression analysis to examine the association. A total of 1089 (13.1%) participants newly developed depressive symptoms during the pandemic. The logistic regression showed that pre-pandemic individual-level social cohesion (odds ratio = 0.79, 95% confidence interval: 0.73 to 0.86) and reciprocity (0.89, 0.82 to 0.96) and community-level reciprocity (0.93, 0.88 to 0.98) were negatively associated with the odds of depressive symptoms. Even after adjusting for declines in social capital during the pandemic, the observed associations of pre-pandemic social capital remained. Fostering social cohesion and reciprocity may increase resilience to mental disorders during a pandemic of infectious disease.

Click here for press release.