PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Hideki Kuwabara

Publications and source records attributed to Hideki Kuwabara.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Impaired psychological recovery in the elderly after the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake in Japan:a population-based study.

BACKGROUND: An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale struck the Niigata-Chuetsu region of Japan at 5.56 P.M. on the 23rd of October, 2004. The earthquake was followed by sustained occurrence of numerous aftershocks, which delayed reconstruction of community lifelines. Even one year after the earthquake, 9,160 people were living in temporary housing. Such a devastating earthquake and life after the earthquake in an unfamiliar environment should cause psychological distress, especially among the elderly. METHODS: Psychological distress was measured using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in 2,083 subjects (69% response rate) who were living in transient housing five months after the earthquake. GHQ-12 was scored using the original method, Likert scoring and corrected method. The subjects were asked to assess their psychological status before the earthquake, their psychological status at the most stressful time after the earthquake and their psychological status at five months after the earthquake. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was used to reveal the factor structure of GHQ12. Multiple regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between various background factors and GHQ-12 score and its subscale. RESULTS: GHQ-12 scores were significantly elevated at the most stressful time and they were significantly high even at five months after the earthquake. Factor analysis revealed that a model consisting of two factors (social dysfunction and dysphoria) using corrected GHQ scoring showed a high level of goodness-of-fit. Multiple regression analysis revealed that age of subjects affected GHQ-12 scores. GHQ-12 score as well as its factor 'social dysfunction' scale were increased with increasing age of subjects at five months after the earthquake. CONCLUSION: Impaired psychological recovery was observed even at five months after the Niigata-Chuetsu Earthquake in the elderly. The elderly were more affected by matters relating to coping with daily problems.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Lack of a relationship between the pupillary light reflex response and state/trait anxiety in remitted patients with panic disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, some studies have indicated that pupillary function only correlates with state/trait anxiety in healthy subjects. In the present study, we examined whether or not there were relationships between the PLR functions and state/trait anxiety in remitted (the absence of panic attack (PA) symptoms for at least 6 months) PD patients compared to normal control (NC) subjects. METHODS: Before and after audiovisual stimulation (AS) that induced mental stress through exposure to video images of high stress experiences, such as driving motor vehicles, the pupillary light reflex (PLR) was measured with an infrared pupillometer in 30 remitted PD patients and 30 age- and gender-matched NC subjects. In order to examine the relationships between the 8 PLR parameters (initial pupillary diameter in darkness, pupillary diameter at maximum constriction, constriction ratio, latency of the reflex, time to reach maximum constriction and time constant of redilation) and state/trait anxiety, we used the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and stepwise multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: There was no significant group difference in the STAI-T score and STAI-S scores before and after AS. We confirmed the significant relationships between pupillary function and state/trait anxiety in NC subjects, but not in PD patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that in contrast to NCs, even remitted PD patients may have dysfunctional PLR regulation with mental loading, such as AS. Moreover, it is possible that the abnormalities of ANS exist extensively in PD, since almost all panic symptoms, including PA, are involved in cardiovascular symptoms, but not pupillary ones.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2006

Differences in characteristics between suicide victims who left notes or not.

BACKGROUND: Suicide notes (SN) are one of markers of the severity of a suicide attempt and are said to provide a valuable insight into the thinking of suicide victims before the fatal act [Shah, A., De, T., 1998. Suicide and the elderly. Int. J. Psychiat. Clin Pract. 2, 3-18]. To examine whether suicide victims who wrote notes (note writers: NW) differ from those who did not, we investigated the characteristics of a sample of more than 5000 Japanese suicides using multiple logistic regression analysis. METHODS: For all suicide victims (5161 cases), we examined the following information: gender, age, suicide method, reason for suicide, marital status, residential status, history of psychiatric disorders, previous suicidal behavior, physical disease, and content of suicide notes. RESULTS: Mean incidence of NW was 30.1% (male: 29.7%, female: 30.8%). NW in Japan had the following characteristics; higher proportion in female and living alone, suicide by more lethal methods such as carbon monoxide, hanging or sharp instruments. On the other hand, non-NW had tendencies to commit suicide for reasons of physical illness and psychiatric disorder, and/or history of previous psychiatric disorders. LIMITATIONS: This study is observational and discusses only completed, not attempted, suicide. Medical and psychiatric comorbidity are judged only by the history of diagnosis and the information about the problems in relationships is based not on valid criteria for inclusion. CONCLUSIONS: Although these findings show ethnic differences, it is possible that SN may be considered an indicator of a serious suicide attempt. Further studies of SN are needed to confirm this.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Japanese version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: its reliability and validity for lifetime depression in a working population.

We have developed a Japanese version of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), devised by Blatt et al., for assessing depression-prone personality and examined the questionnaire's reliability (test-retest reliability and internal consistency) and validity. To examine the questionnaire's validity, we evaluated its factorial validity and discriminant power for depression (i.e., construct validity). To test the construct validity of the DEQ with and without depression proneness, the scores on the DEQ subscales were compared between subjects with and without a lifetime history of major depressive disorder (MDD). The Inventory to Diagnose Depression, Lifetime version (IDDL), was used to identify lifetime depression. The reliability tests showed that the Japanese version has reliability almost similar to that of the original version. While the self-criticism has good reliability, the dependency appears to have only modest reliability. In the comparisons between subjects with and without lifetime histories of major depression, the former had significantly higher scores on the self-criticism dimension of the DEQ than did the latter, suggesting that the Japanese version of the DEQ, especially the self-criticism, may have the ability to distinguish individuals with lifetime depression from normal controls. We conclude that the DEQ is an acceptable instrument for assessing the depression-prone personality.

Adult↗