Tadayuki Iida

Association of changes in neck circumference with cardiometabolic risk in postmenopausal healthy women

AIMnAlthough neck circumference (NC) is thought to predict obesity-related metabolic abnormality, its causal role in cardiometabolic risk is unclear. The aim of this study was to clarify the impact of changes in NC on cardiometabolic risk in healthy postmenopausal women through a community-based longitudinal study.nnnMETHODSnFrom a local community in Japan, 63 generally healthy postmenopausal women were recruited. All participants received an assessment of obesity-related anthropometric markers, biochemical parameters, and hemodynamic measures and were followed on average for 3 years.nnnRESULTSnAt baseline analysis, larger NC was positively associated with atherosclerosis-related markers, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and blood pressure, as well as some lipid parameters. After the follow-up period, change in NC was associated with changes in body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, and waist circumference (WC). Interestingly, significant correlations of change in NC with changes in baPWV and blood pressure were observed, whereas changes in WC and BMI were only associated with changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and/or total cholesterol. In multivariate linear regression analysis, change in NC was significantly associated with changes in baPWV and systolic blood pressure, independent of changes in BMI, WC, and biochemical parameters. In addition, an increase in NC was associated with a 2.69-fold increased odds ratio of accelerated baPWV.nnnCONCLUSIONSnChange in NC was independently associated with changes in atherosclerosis-related markers. These observations suggest that NC is an important predictor of the risk of developing obesity-related atherosclerosis in healthy postmenopausal women.

Relationship between an amount of Key Tasks and Job Satisfaction among Caregivers and Nurses in Elderly Care Facilities

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to examine relationship between an amount of key tasks and job satisfaction among caregivers and nurses in elderly care facilities.MethodsQuestionnaires were mailed to the caring staff of elderly care facilities. After data collection (return rate 70%), information about work situations and health conditions were analyzed among 325 female workers, who were classified to 4 groups as follows; (1) caregivers under 40 years of age (2) caregivers of 40 years or over (3) nurses under 40 years of age (4) nurses of 40 years or over.ResultsMean ages and length of career in caring sector were 37.2u2009±u200912.2 yr and 4.5u2009±u20093.0 yr for caregivers and 41.6u2009±u20099.2 yr and 16.8u2009±u20098.9 yr for nurses, respectively. A larger amount of care services were done on average by workers being dissatisfied with their job than by the satisfied workers in each of the 4 groups. The dissatisfied caregivers under 40 years showed significantly higher frequencies (as ratios of 1.4 - 2 to 1) in several care services such as “helping with showers or baths”, “helping with eating”, “changing diapers”, “moving caretakers from bed or chair to wheelchair or vice versa”, as compared with the satisfied caregivers under 40 years. Similarly, the 40 plus dissatisfied caregivers helped caretakers sit up in bed significantly more frequently. For nurses, on the other hand, “changing diapers” was found as the only service with a significant difference in frequency between the dissatisfied and the satisfied, but that was limited in the 40 plus age group. A frequency of “changing diapers” was associated with an increase in the risk of job dissatisfaction.ConclusionsThese results suggested that an appropriate amount of each key task in elderly care facilities should be set to prevent staff’s dissatisfaction with their job from growing excessively.