Associations of work-related stress and total sleep time with cholesterol levels in an occupational cohort of Japanese office workers

Lifestyle and Quality of Life of Women with Diagnosed Hypothyroidism in the Context of Metabolic Disorders

The lifestyle causes of metabolic disorders in patients with hypothyroidism should be investigated. We aimed to assess the lifestyle and quality of life of women diagnosed with hypothyroidism and search for the presence of differences between the lifestyle and quality of life of women with and without diagnosed lipid metabolism disorders. This study included 311 women. To assess the differences between the groups with and without metabolic disorders, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was performed. Of the products that were potentially beneficial for health, statistically significant differences in the average frequency of consumption were observed for legume seeds (p = 0.014), and of the products potentially unbeneficial for health, the frequencies of consumption of fried dishes (p = 0.016) and fast-food products (p = 0.001) were significant. Only 11.9% rated their free-time physical activity as high. The quality of life was significantly different between the groups. The lifestyle was moderately appropriate. Compared with women with lipid metabolism disorders, women without them exhibited a higher frequency of correct dietary behaviors regarding the consumption of products with a potentially beneficial effect and sleeping duration. Women without lipid metabolism disorders had a better quality of life. Women with hypothyroidism should be educated about the beneficial aspects of the regular consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and fish and sleeping for the optimal amount of time.

Factors influencing postpartum depression among Japanese parents: A prospective longitudinal study

AIM

Postpartum depression (PPD) may have negative effects on the parents and lead to impaired cognitive, socioemotional, and behavioral development in their children. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with PPD in parents during the first year after delivery.

METHODS

This study used a self-administered questionnaire. Questionnaires were mailed at 5 days, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after delivery, respectively. The particpants were 107 pairs of mothers and fathers. PPD was assessed using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Data on sense of coherence (SOC), Quality Marriage Index, Social Support Scale, Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale, and sociodemographic variables were collected. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the strength of the association between several variables and the EPDS at each survey period for fathers and mothers, respectively.

RESULTS

The prevalence of PPD in the first-year postpartum ranged from 12.1%-23.4% to 7.5%-8.4% for fathers and mothers, respectively. SOC had the strongest impact on EPDS scores for both fathers and mothers at all four survey periods.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that stress coping skills are an important factor affecting PPD throughout the first-year postpartum for both fathers and mothers.

Digital Phenotyping in Health Using Machine Learning Approaches: Scoping Review

BACKGROUND

Digital phenotyping is the real-time collection of individual-level active and passive data from users in naturalistic and free-living settings via personal digital devices, such as mobile phones and wearable devices. Given the novelty of research in this field, there is heterogeneity in the clinical use cases, types of data collected, modes of data collection, data analysis methods, and outcomes measured.

OBJECTIVE

The primary aim of this scoping review was to map the published research on digital phenotyping and to outline study characteristics, data collection and analysis methods, machine learning approaches, and future implications.

METHODS

We utilized an a priori approach for the literature search and data extraction and charting process, guided by the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews). We identified relevant studies published in 2020, 2021, and 2022 on PubMed and Google Scholar using search terms related to digital phenotyping. The titles, abstracts, and keywords were screened during the first stage of the screening process, and the second stage involved screening the full texts of the shortlisted articles. We extracted and charted the descriptive characteristics of the final studies, which were countries of origin, study design, clinical areas, active and/or passive data collected, modes of data collection, data analysis approaches, and limitations.

RESULTS

A total of 454 articles on PubMed and Google Scholar were identified through search terms associated with digital phenotyping, and 46 articles were deemed eligible for inclusion in this scoping review. Most studies evaluated wearable data and originated from North America. The most dominant study design was observational, followed by randomized trials, and most studies focused on psychiatric disorders, mental health disorders, and neurological diseases. A total of 7 studies used machine learning approaches for data analysis, with random forest, logistic regression, and support vector machines being the most common.

CONCLUSIONS

Our review provides foundational as well as application-oriented approaches toward digital phenotyping in health. Future work should focus on more prospective, longitudinal studies that include larger data sets from diverse populations, address privacy and ethical concerns around data collection from consumer technologies, and build "digital phenotypes" to personalize digital health interventions and treatment plans.

Associations of work-related stress and total sleep time with cholesterol levels in an occupational cohort of Japanese office workers

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to investigate the associations of total sleep time (TST) and occupational stress based on the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) with cholesterol levels in an occupational cohort of Japanese office workers.

METHODS

The present study is a secondary analysis of a subset of participants from a randomized controlled trial. Participants were 179 employees from 5 companies in Tokyo who participated as the intervention group in a 3-month lifestyle intervention study among office workers with metabolic syndrome or at risk of metabolic syndrome. All intervention-group participants used a mobile app and a wearable device. The final population for analysis in the present study were 173 participants. Cholesterol measures were derived from participants' annual health check-up data in the fiscal year preceding their inclusion in the study. Multiple linear regression models were used to determine the association between exposures and outcome.

RESULTS

Overall, stress levels were significantly and inversely associated with LDL-C (-7.12 mg/dl; 95% CI: -11.78, -2.45) and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (-0.16 mg/dl; 95% CI: -0.27, -0.04) per standard deviation increase. Compared to average TST 5.9-7.2 hours, average TST of 4.0-5.3 hours (-4.82 mg/dl; 95% CI: -9.22, -0.43) was inversely associated with HDL-C.

CONCLUSION

Incremental increases of stress were significantly and inversely associated with LDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio. The shortest average TST was inversely associated with HDL-C. The results should be interpreted with care given certain methodological limitations.