Introduction
The use of medicines among Brazilian workers in Japan has not been documented. This study examines the preferences and use of medicines among Brazilian workers of Japanese origin in Japan.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2011 in a community in Nagoya, where many Brazilian workers lived. Questionnaires were distributed to 206 Brazilian households, and asked about preferences and use of Japanese or Brazilian medicines. Associations with socioeconomic factors were analyzed using Fisher's exact test.
Results
The response rate was 36% (74 households). Of these, 66% had lived in Japan for over 10 years, and 88% held health insurance. Over 80% reported a preference for Japanese medicines. However, Brazilian medicines were used in more than 40% of the households. Employed Brazilians tend to use Brazilian medicines compared to the unemployed. Most respondents answered that Brazilian medicines were more effective, but were more expensive and produced worse side effect than Japanese medicines.
Households with children showed a preference for Japanese medicines for children's illnesses. However, more Brazilian medicines were used when the length of household's stay in Japan was less than 10 years, and when the respondent's perceived listening ability of Japanese language was poor.
Conclusion
Almost all respondents were using the medicines they preferred, suggesting that access to medicine was generally good in the community. However, 40% of respondents used Brazilian medicines, despite their long stay in Japan, their health insurance status, and their recognition of Japanese medicines as inexpensive and safe. This might be explained by familiarity with Brazilian medicines, or perception of their effectiveness.
Continuous self-administration of medicines without consultation has potential harm to the health. This study also suggests the importance of arranging social environments such as facilitating the taking of sick leaves, so that immigrant workers can secure their access to health services.

Background and Objective
  The prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, imposing major public health and development threats. However, there is difference among countries with regard to the patterns of NCD metabolic risk factors. This study aims to categorize the pattern of metabolic risk factors in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Methods
  Age-standardized prevalence of obesity, raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, and raised blood cholesterol for 2008 were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory Data Repository. We used hierarchical cluster analysis to categorize countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania based on the prevalence of NCD metabolic risk factors of each country.
Results
  Three patterns of NCD metabolic risk factors were identified. The first pattern showed relatively high prevalence of raised blood cholesterol, while prevalence of obesity, raised blood pressure and raised blood glucose remain relatively low. Most high- and upper-middle-income Asian countries were included in this pattern. The second pattern presented relatively high prevalence of raised blood pressure, although prevalence of obesity, raised blood glucose, and raised blood cholesterol stay relatively low. Most low- and lower-middle-income Asian countries were categorized in this pattern. The third pattern presented high prevalence of obesity and relatively high prevalence of raised blood pressure and raised blood glucose. This pattern included most Pacific island countries.
Conclusions
  Policy makers in countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania should take into account for the features of the pattern they are in, when they set priorities for developing effective NCD control measures.

Objective: Assistance from health professionals is very important to ensure medication adherence among older people. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between receipt of comprehensive medication management services by primary care physicians and medication adherence among community-dwelling older people in rural Japan.Methods: Data including medication adherence and whether or not a doctor knew all the kinds of medicines being taken were obtained from individuals aged 65 years or older who underwent an annual health checkup between February 2013 and March 2014 at a public clinic in Asakura. The subjects were divided into 2 groups: adherent (always) and non-adherent (not always). A logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the association between the presence of a doctor who was fully responsible for medication adherence and self-reported adherence. Predictors that exhibited significant association (p-value < 0.05) with medication adherence in a univariate analysis were entered in the model as possible confounding factors. The results were presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Among four-hundred ninety-seven subjects in total, the adherent group included 430 subjects (86.5%), and its members were older than those of the non-adherent group. Significant predictors of good medication adherence included older age, no discomforting symptoms, eating regularly, diabetes mellitus and having a doctor who knew all the kinds of medicines being taken. After being adjusted for confounding variables, the subjects with a doctor who knew all the kinds of medicines they were taking were three times more likely to be adherent to medication (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.44-6.99).Conclusion: Receipt of comprehensive medication management services for older people was associated with medication adherence.

Objective: The burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is increasing in China, together with economic development and social changes. The prevalence of risk factors for NCDs, such as overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, is reported to be high even among poor residents of rural areas. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension among elderly adults in rural Northeast China and the proportion with controlled hypertension among those on antihypertensive medication (hypertension control rate). We also aimed to examine the association of hypertension control with health facilities that provide treatment.Methods: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study in six rural villages of Northeast China from February to early March, 2012. We interviewed 1593 adults aged 50–69 years and measured their blood pressure. We examined the differences in mean blood pressure between participants who obtained antihypertensive medication from village clinics and those who obtained medication from other sources, using analysis of covariance adjusted for several covariates.Results: The prevalence of hypertension among participants was as high as 63.3%, but the hypertension control rate was only 8.4%. Most villagers (98.1%) were not registered in the chronic disease treatment scheme of the public rural health insurance. The mean systolic blood pressure, adjusted for the covariates, of participants who obtained antihypertensive medication from village clinics was significantly lower than that of participants who obtained medication from township hospitals (by 16.5 mmHg) or from private pharmacies (by 7.3 mmHg).Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension was high and the hypertension control rate low among elderly villagers during the cold season. As treatment at village clinics, which villagers can access during the cold season seems to be more effective than self-medication or treatment at distant hospitals, improving the quality of treatment in village clinics is urgently needed.