A self administered survey on bathing and nearly drowning accidents in the bathtub was conducted among subjects consisting of 216 members of an aged person's club (153 males and 63 females, 73.7±4.9 years of age) for the purpose of utilizing the results for guidance in bathing for elderly persons. The subjects were bathing almost every day. The total bathing time was 20min and the time spent in the bathtub was 11min. With regard to the preference of bathing temperature, 50.4% of males and 33.3% of females answered that they like hot bathing (P<0.05). The ratios of the subjects who bathe at water temperatures over 42°C in the cold season were 39.0% of males and 21.0% of females (P<0.05). Only 4.2% of the subjects bathe below the waist. The ratios of the subjects who frequently bathe after drinking were 9.2% of males and 1.9% of females. The ratio of the subjects who bathe alone at home was 94.1%. The ratios of the subjects in this survey who had nearly drowned in the bathtub while bathing at home was 4.3%. A nearly drowning accident occurred primarily when the subject got fatigued (44.4%) or physical condition of the subject was bad (44.4%). The ratio of the subjects who had nearly drowned in a large bathtub of a hotel was 1.4%. No subjects had experienced a nearly drowning accident in the bathtub of a public bath. These results suggested that old persons, particularly males, bathe under rather unsafe conditions.

Masked obesity is the presence of obesity based on percent body fat (%BF) when the body mass index (BMI) shows an absence of obesity. To examine the relationship between masked obesity and arteriosclerosis risk factors, we compared both serum lipid levels and the prevalence of hyperlipidemia in male and female high school freshmen with and without masked obesity. Subjects consisted of 403 male and 326 female high school students aged 15∼16 years. Of these, 34(8.4%) males and 36(11.0%) females had masked obesity, defined as 17≤BMI<23.60 and %BF≥25% in males, and 17≤BMI<24.17 and %BF≥30% in females, while the remaining 300 males and 246 females were not obese, having 17≤BMI<23.60 and %BF<25% and 17≤BMI<24.17 and %BF<30%, respectively. For both sexes, serum total-cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), triglycerides and the arteriosclerotic index (AI) were significantly higher (p<0.05∼0.01) in those with masked obesity. And many of the subjects with masked obesity had abnormal levels of TC, LDLC and AI, compared with those who were not obese (p<0.05∼0.01). Additionally, we compared both serum lipid levels and the prevalence of hyperlipidemia between subjects with masked obesity and control groups with the same BMI values. As a result, subjects with masked obesity had high serum lipid levels and a prevalence of hyperlipidemia. These results support the existence of masked obesity and suggest that masked obesity is associated with increased serum lipid levels, and thus could be a risk factor for arteriosclerosis in male and female high school freshmen.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of short-term living and training at an altitude of 1, 300 to 1, 800 m on physiological responses of high school elite endurance athletes. Fifteen male and seven female senior high school elite athletes, aged from 15 to 18, from three different sports (cross-country skiing, long-distance running and endurance cycling), participated in our study. The short-term (6 days) altitude exposure did not elicit abnormal responses of body tempera-ture, body weight, blood pressure or urine samples. There were also no significant changes in blood parameters examined before and after altitude exposure. Resting heart rate (HR) increased at altitude and presented an initial peak value followed by a steady decline on the following days of altitude exposure. Blood lactate concentration and exercise peak llR examined by submaximal 20-m shuttle run test decreased after the ascent to altitude and still showed lower values at postaltitude than at prealtitude. We conclude that 6-day living and training at an altitude of 1, 300 to 1, 800 m elicits positive decrements of exercise blood lactate and exercise peak HR as well as adaptive changes of resting IlR for these high school elite endurance athletes, which are probably related to an attenuation of muscle glycogen utilization and alterations in the autonomic neural system taken at altitude.