Habitual aerobic exercise decreases arterial stiffness, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and increases aerobic exercise capacity. Exercise habits can be difficult to maintain over time. We sought to determine if the prospect of participating in a sports tourism event (mountain climbing) helped older adults maintain increased aerobic exercise capacity and decreased arterial stiffness after a supervised training program. Forty community-dwelling middle-aged and older individuals were divided into training (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. The training group participated in six weeks of face-to-face exercise intervention (walking, 60%–75% of age-predicted maximal heart rate, 35–50 min/day, 1 day/week) and was additionally offered home-based walking (45 min/day, 2–4 days/week). During the same period, the control group was asked not to change their lifestyle. In the last session of the exercise program, we announced a mountain climbing event planned for six months in the future. The participants were encouraged to maintain their exercise habits leading up to the event. Arterial stiffness (brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity) and maximal oxygen uptake were measured before and after the six-week intervention and two weeks before the mountain climbing event. In the training group, arterial stiffness decreased, and maximal oxygen uptake increased after the intervention; these improvements were successfully maintained until the mountain climbing event. These parameters did not change significantly in the control group. Sports tourism may motivate older adults to maintain their exercise habits after a supervised training program.

Because of societal aging, Japanese pharmacists have an increasingly important role in home medical care. This is particularly true because more pharmacists are required to perform physical assessments to optimize patient treatment. However, few investigations have examined whether patients understand the role of pharmacists and the importance of home medical care. In this study, a questionnaire was provided to 260 patients aged 20-90 years to determine patients’ attitudes toward home medical care and pharmaceutical interventions. After conducting factor analysis, items related to home medical care were excluded at the stage of exploratory factor analysis, indicating that patients are not interested in home medical care. However, regarding pharmaceutical interventions, the questionnaire revealed that 42% of the patients required the pharmacists to provide information regarding the prescribed drugs during home medical care visits. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that 85% of the patients were unaware that physical assessments are also perform by pharmacists. In contrast, >50% of the patients believed that pharmacists had an important role in physical assessment interventions.

Previous studies among middle-aged and older adults have shown that engagement in exercise with others is more strongly associated with better mental health than engagement in exercise alone. However, the applicability of such findings to workers remains unclear. This study aimed to examine whether 1) engagement in exercise with others and time spent exercising with others were associated with lower stress response and mental distress among workers, and 2) self-determined motivation toward exercise mediated these associations among workers. This was a cross-sectional study. A web-based questionnaire survey was conducted among 810 workers aged 20 to 59 years. The survey measured respondents’ engagement and time spent exercising alone and with others, self-determined motivation toward exercise, psychological and physical stress responses, mental distress, and basic factors. Basic factors were treated as covariates. The analyses of covariance showed that engagement in exercise with others was significantly associated with lower psychological and physical stress responses and mental distress, while engagement in exercise alone was not. Multiple regression analyses revealed that longer time spent exercising with others was not associated with lower psychological and physical stress responses or mental distress. Path analyses showed that mediation effect of self-determined motivation on these associations was not significant. Although dose-response associations and the mediating role of self-determined motivation were not confirmed, this study found that engagement in exercise with others was associated with lower stress responses and mental distress among workers.

In Japan, where the population is aging, it is important to train exercise instructors who promote health in older adults. Previous studies demonstrated that an intergenerational program that was not focused on exercise improved university students’ perceptions of older adults, but the effects of an intergenerational exercise-related program have not been explored. This study investigated whether obtaining experience in providing exercise instruction to older adults improved university students’ attitudes toward these adults and their willingness to acquire exercise instruction-related qualifications. Second-year university students majoring in sport and health sciences were divided into intervention (n = 29) or control (n = 33) groups. Students in the intervention group participated in a 5-session program that involved choreographing exercise with music and giving exercise instructions to community-dwelling older adults. In the final session, the students and older adults performed the exercise together, and this session was videotaped. Explicit attitudes toward older adults improved from before to after the program in the intervention group. The percentage of students in the intervention group who were willing to acquire exercise instruction-related qualifications was greater after the program than before it. In the control group, there were no detectable differences in these measures before and after the study period. Students’ feelings (i.e., vitality, stability, pleasure, and arousal) acutely improved after each session in the intervention group. These results may imply that after experiencing the provision of exercise instruction to older adults, university students’ explicit attitudes toward these adults and their willingness to obtain exercise instruction-related qualifications were increased.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have increased the rate of presenteeism among front-line physicians. Presenteeism is the term used to describe attendance at work despite ill health that would normally prompt rest or absence from work. This study aimed to examine the associations between COVID-19 clinical practice and presenteeism among physicians. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2021 to January 2022. The questionnaires were distributed to 21,737 employed physicians who were members of the Japan Medical Association. Presenteeism was measured by the Work Functioning Impairment Scale. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between COVID-19 clinical practice and presenteeism. RESULTS: Overall, 3,968 participants were included in the analysis, and presenteeism was observed in 13.9% of them. The rate of presenteeism significantly increased with both the number of COVID-19 patients treated and the percentage of work time spent treating these patients (both P values for trend < 0.001). In comparison to those not currently engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, presenteeism was significantly higher among front-line (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.71, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.16-2.53) and second-line physicians supporting those in the front-line (aOR = 1.45, 95% CI: 1.17-1.78). There was no association between involvement in COVID-19 vaccination services and presenteeism. CONCLUSIONS The burden on front-line and second-line physicians in COVID-19 clinical practice must be minimized. Employed physicians also need to recognize the importance of communicating with their workplaces about presenteeism.
Humans ; COVID-19/epidemiology* ; Presenteeism ; Japan/epidemiology* ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; COVID-19 Vaccines ; Physicians ; Surveys and Questionnaires