Shamima Akter

• BSc, MSc, PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Hitotsubashi University

This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD 42022311392) aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of all available population-level tobacco policies on smoking behaviour. Our search across 5 databases and leading organizational websites resulted in 9,925 records, with 476 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. In our narrati...

This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD 42022311392) aimed to synthesize the effectiveness of all available population-level tobacco policies on smoking behaviour. Our search across 5 databases and leading organizational websites resulted in 9,925 records, with 476 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. In our narrati...

Background Monitoring the progress in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) using the composite coverage index (CCI) is crucial to evaluate the advancement of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) towards the attainment of Sustainable Development Goal target 3. We present current benchmarking for 70 LMICs, forecasting t...

IMPORTANCE Smoking causes considerable noncommunicable diseases, perinatal morbidity, and mortality. OBJECTIVE To investigate the associations of population-level tobacco-control policies with health outcomes. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and EconLit were searched from ince...

Background: Nutrition inadequacy during childhood and adolescence can cause suboptimal growth, intergenerational effects on offspring and an increased risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. There is little information on the prevalence and drivers of malnutrition in children aged 5-19 years, in the South-East Asian setting, since most existing int...

Background The absolute number of older individuals needing medical care and long-term care (LTC) is increasing globally due to the growing ageing population. However, it is uncertain who and what proportion of the population has access to care. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and reasons for unmet needs for healt...

Background: In Bangladesh, safely managed sanitation (SMS) coverage is low, and diarrheal disease is a significant health problem. This study estimated the inequality in access to SMS facilities at the national and sub-national levels and assessed the prevalence of diarrheal diseases in connection with these improved facilities. Methods: Data were...

Introduction Complete (100%) protection against catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and impoverishment is the main target of universal health coverage (UHC). Evidence-based estimates must be at the heart of policy development for UHC, further research using updated data is essential to monitor, track, and compare country progress up to 2030. We e...

While late chronotype and greater social jetlag have been associated with poor dietary behavior among the general population, these associations have not been investigated among workers, who struggle to align their sleep timings with work schedules. We aimed to explore the cross-sectional association of social jetlag and a late chronotype with adhe...

Background The absolute number of older individuals needing medical care and long-term care (LTC) is increasing globally due to the growing ageing population. However, it is uncertain who and what proportion of the population has access to care. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and reasons for unmet needs for healt...

Abstract Background Sleep deprivation is widely recognized as a potential contributor to childhood obesity. However, few studies have addressed this issue in low-income settings. The aim of this study was to determine the association of both sleep duration and sleep quality with overweight/obesity among adolescents of Bangladesh. Methods A cross-se...

Background: Ensuring access to health services for all is the main goal of universal health coverage (UHC) plan. Out-of-pocket (OOP) payment still remains the main source of funding for healthcare in Bangladesh. The association between barriers to accessing healthcare and over-reliance on OOP payments has not been explored in Bangladesh using natio...

Background: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been associated with various chronic diseases which may lead to long-term sickness absence (LTSA), but there is lacking information on the direct association between MetS and LTSA. The present study aimed to investigate the all-cause and cause-specific associations between MetS and the risk of medically-ce...

Aims: Data are limited regarding how shift work is linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, especially among workers at high risk of diabetes. We examined the risk of diabetes according to shift-work conditions over several years among Japanese adults. Methods: This prospective study enrolled 17,515 workers (age 40-78 years). Shift work was...

Objective: Prediabetes has been suggested to increase risk for death; however, the definitions of prediabetes that can predict death remain elusive. We prospectively investigated the association of multiple definitions of prediabetes with the risk of death from all-causes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer in Japanese workers. Research des...

The aim of this study was to determine the cross-sectional associations between frequency of eating with others and depressive symptoms in Japanese employees while accounting for lifestyle and dietary factors. We also examined the relationship with stratification by living arrangement. Participants were 1876 workers aged 18–74 years who participate...

Background Evidence is limited regarding the association between low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) score and mortality among Asians, a population that consumes a large amount of carbohydrates. Objective The present study examined the association between low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) score (based on percentage of energy as carbohydrate, fat, and protein) a...

Smoking has been consistently associated with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in Western populations; however, evidence is limited and inconsistent in Asian people. To assess the association of smoking status, smoking intensity and smoking cessation with colorectal risk in the Japanese population, we performed a pooled analysis of 10 population...

Calcium and phosphate may play an important role in cardio-metabolic abnormalities, including type 2 diabetes; however, epidemiological evidence of the association of calcium and phosphate status with glucose metabolism among Asians is limited. In the current study, we performed a cross-sectional analysis of the association of serum calcium, phosph...

We examined the association of dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) in overall diet, and separately from foods and beverages, with serum liver enzymes in a Japanese working population. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1791 employees aged 18–69 years, who underwent a comprehensive health checkup in 2012–2013. A brief valid...

Objectives While several experimental studies in animals and humans have suggested the protective effect of nightly fasting duration (NFD) against cardiometabolic risk factors, few population‐based studies have been conducted. This study aimed to investigate the association between NFD and metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Japanese non‐shift workers....

Objective Consumption of soft drinks has become a serious public health issue worldwide. However, prospective evidence is limited regarding the relationship between soft drink consumption and depression, especially in Asia. Here, we investigated the prospective association of soft drink consumption with the development of depressive symptoms. Meth...

Background & aims Oxidative stress has been suggested to play an important role in the pathophysiology of depression, and a diet high in antioxidants may improve mood. However, studies addressing this issue are scarce. The aim of this cohort study was to investigate the prospective association between dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEA...

Objectives: We aimed to compare the association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among middle-aged working Japanese men. Methods: A nested case-control study was performed among middle-aged male employees who underwent periodic health checkup. A total o...

Background: Few studies have investigated the association between tobacco smoking and sick leave (SL) in Japan. Methods: We followed 70,896 workers aged 20-59 years (60,133 males, 10,763 females) between April 2012 and March 2017. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to investigate the associations between smoking (smoking status and intens...

Objective: The present study aimed to estimate cumulative incidence of overweight and obesity and describe 5-year longitudinal changes in body mass index (BMI) in a large occupational cohort in Japan. Methods: Participants were 55 229 Japanese employees, who were aged 20-59 years and attended at all subsequent annual health check-ups between 200...

Objective: Intake of antioxidants may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) by reducing oxidative stress. However, it is unclear whether dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC), which represents the cumulative action of dietary antioxidants and their synergistic effects in foods, is associated with decreased T2D risk. The aim of this...

Background: Social jetlag, a mismatch between biological and social timing, has been reported to be associated with depressive symptoms among general population. However, evidence on this association is lacking among non-shift workers, who are under pressure to adapt themselves to a work schedule. Objective: We investigated the cross-sectional asso...

Red meat and processed meat have been suggested to increase risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), especially colon cancer. However, it remains unclear whether these associations differ according to meat subtypes or colon subsites. The present study addressed this issue by conducting a pooled analysis of large population-based cohort studies in Japan: 5...

Background Social jetlag, a mismatch between biological and social timing, has been reported to be associated with depressive symptoms among general population. However, evidence on this association is lacking among non-shift workers, who are under pressure to adapt themselves to a work schedule. Objective We investigated the cross-sectional assoc...

Background: Few studies have assessed associations of non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) in the overall diet with all-cause or specific mortality, and their results have been inconsistent. Objectives: The present study investigated the association between dietary NEAC and all-cause or cause-specific mortality. Methods: The study was a l...

Introduction The effect of weight gain following smoking cessation on cardiovascular risks is unclear. We aimed to prospectively investigate the association of weight gain following smoking cessation with the trajectory of estimated risks of coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods In a cohort of 18 562 Japanese male employees aged 30-64 years and in...

Maternal anemia affects approximately 56 million women worldwide and increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Our study aimed to summarize the evidence for the association between maternal hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations and maternal or infant outcomes, evaluating it in a continuous manner. In this systematic review and meta‐analysis, we co...

Amino acids have emerged as novel biomarkers for predicting type 2 diabetes (T2D), but the epidemiologic data linking circulating amino acid profiles with T2D are sparse in Asian populations. We conducted a nested case-control study within a cohort of 4,754 nondiabetic Japanese employees who attended a comprehensive health checkup in 2008–2009 and...

Background & aims: Increasing evidence has suggested a protective role of vitamin D on diabetes, but epidemiologic evidence is scarce among Asian populations. Here we prospectively examined the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25[OH]D3) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk in Japanese individuals. Methods: A nested case-control study wa...

Breakfast consumption has been suggested to influence mood, but prospective evidence on this issue is limited. We prospectively investigated the association between the frequency of breakfast consumption and the risk of depressive symptoms in Japanese employees. Participants were 716 employees aged 19–68 years who were free from depressive symptoms...

Background & aims: The existing yet limited prospective studies reported conflicting results about obesity and hearing loss. We investigated the prospective association between obesity and hearing loss in a large-scale Japanese working population, as well as the association between metabolic phenotype and hearing loss. Methods: The study include...

Objective: To investigate associations of work-related stressors and their changes over time with the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Japanese manufacturing workers. Methods: Participants were 1,040 employees aged 19 to 68 years who were free from MetS at baseline and completed the three year-interval follow-up survey. MetS was d...

Background: The effect of smoking on mortality in working-age adults remains unclear. Accordingly, we compared the effects of cigarette smoking and smoking cessation on total and cause-specific mortality in a Japanese working population. Methods and Results: This study included 79,114 Japanese workers aged 20–85 years who participated in the Japan...

Figure S1 | Predicted risk of diabetes within 7 years based on non‐invasive model (risk calculator).

Figure S3 | Predicted risk of diabetes within 7 years based on non‐invasive model (risk chart).

Figure S5 | Predicted risk of diabetes within 7 years based on invasive model (risk chart, including dyslipidemia and fasting plasma glucose).

Appendix S1 | Data collection method.

Figure S2 | Predicted risk of diabetes within 7 years based on invasive model (risk calculator).

Figure S4 | Predicted risk of diabetes within 7 years based on invasive model (risk chart, including dyslipidemia and glycated hemoglobin).

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine whether haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level is associated with the incidence of hearing impairment accounting for smoking status and diabetic condition at baseline. Methods Participants were 131 689 men and 71 286 women aged 30–65 years and free of hearing impairment at baseline (2008) who attended Japan...

Background: High dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) has been inversely related to the incidence of degenerative diseases. However, few studies have investigated the validity and reproducibility of dietary NEAC estimated from a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). We assessed the validity and reproducibility of FFQ-based dietary NEAC...

Objective: Social jetlag, ie, the mismatch between biological and social timing, has been suggested to induce obesity and cardiometabolic abnormalities. Yet, no study has currently linked social jetlag to metabolic syndrome (MetS) among Asians. The aim of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional association of social jetlag with MetS in a...

Background Bangladesh is one of the highest tobacco consuming countries in the world, with reported 21.2% of the population as daily smokers, 24.3% as smokeless tobacco users, and 36.3% as adult passive smoker. Given the high prevalence and established harmful effects of passive tobacco smoking, this study aimed to estimate of pattern of smoking po...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142779.].

Introduction: We aimed to determine the prospective association of smoking status, smoking intensity, and smoking cessation with the risk of hearing loss in a large Japanese cohort. Methods: The cohort study included 50195 employees, who were aged 20-64 years and free of hearing loss at baseline. Participants were followed up for a maximum of 8...

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential links between dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC) in overall diet and separately from foods and beverages and markers of DNA damage. Methods: The participants were 513 employees, 20 to 65 y of age. Urinary levels of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 7-methylguanin...

Coffee is a rich source of bioactive compounds that have potential anti-carcinogenic effects. However, it remains unclear whether coffee drinking is associated with colorectal cancer. Also, despite different etiological factors involved in gut physiology, few studies have investigated this association by anatomical site of the lesion. To address th...

Background & aims Magnesium may play an important role in cardio-metabolic abnormalities, including type 2 diabetes, but epidemiological evidence linking magnesium status to glucose metabolism is limited among Asians. We cross-sectionally examined the association of dietary and serum magnesium with markers of glucose metabolism among Japanese subje...

Aims/introduction: We previously developed a 3-year diabetes risk score in the working population. The objective of the present study was to develop and validate flexible risk models that can predict the risk of diabetes for any arbitrary time point during 7 years. Materials and methods: The participants were 46,198 Japanese employees aged 30-59...

Purpose: Increased iron storage, as measured by circulating ferritin, has been linked to an increased risk of various diseases including diabetes. We examined the association of circulating ferritin with serum adiponectin, leptin, resistin, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and visfatin levels. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional st...

Objective We explored the association of 3-year adherence to a dietary pattern based on nutrients that may be related to mood with the development of depressive symptoms in Japanese employees. Research Methods & Procedures Participants were 903 employees, free from depressive symptoms at baseline and who attended the 3-year followup. Participants...

Background:We investigated the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with duration of metabolic syndrome (MetS) for the past 4 years before the CVD event. Methods and Results:We performed a nested case-control study within the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study. A total of 139 registered cases of CVD and 561 self-reported...

Cigarette smoking is the leading avoidable cause of disease burden. Observational studies have suggested an association between smoking and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We conducted a meta-analysis of prospective observational studies to investigate the association of smoking status, smoking intensity, and smoking cessation with the ris...

Figure S1 | Flow diagram of the study population.

Background: The association between the circulating fatty acid (FA) composition and type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been reported in Western populations, but evidence is scarce among Asian populations, including Japanese, who consume large amounts of fish. Objective: The objective of the present study was to prospectively examine the association between...

Background Saturated fatty acids are generally thought to have detrimental effects on health. However, a recent study showed that even- and odd-chain saturated fatty acids had opposite associations with type 2 diabetes. Limited studies of Western populations examined the associations of circulating saturated fatty acids with adipokines, an importan...

Multivariate adjusted geometric means (and 95% confidence interval) for adipokines among phospholipids saturated fatty acids (mol%). (DOCX)

Background: Diet-induced metabolic acidosis has been linked to cardiometabolic abnormalities including hypertension and type 2 diabetes. However, there are limited data on its association with other chronic diseases and mortality. Objective: The present study aimed to examine the association between dietary acid load and total and cause-specific mo...

Background: We prospectively examined the association of diabetes risk with the number of metabolic abnormalities, as well as their combinations, according to the presence or absence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) in a large-scale Japanese working population. Methods: Participants included 55,271 workers at 11 companies who received periodic...

Background: Rapid increasing of high body mass index (BMI) is a global health concern. Population with high BMI predicts an increased risk of diabetes and hypertension. The objective of the present study is to estimate the trend and prediction of diabetes and hypertension in Bangladesh, to examine the association of BMI with risk of diabetes and h...

Aims/introduction: Higher iron storage has been linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes, but little is known about the mediator of this association. Here, we prospectively investigated the association between circulating ferritin, a marker of iron storage, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes among Japanese. Methods: Subjects were 4754 emplo...

We prospectively examined diabetes risk in association with a summary measure of degree and duration of weight change. The study participants were 51,777 employees from multiple companies in Japan, who were aged 30-59years, free of diabetes at baseline, and followed up for 7years (2008-2015). Exposure was cumulative body mass index (BMI)-years, whi...

Data are limited regarding effect of intensity of leisure-time physical activity on metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, no prospective data are available regarding effect of occupational and commuting physical activity on metabolic syndrome. We compared metabolic syndrome risk by intensity level of leisure-time exercise and by occupational and commuti...

Background & aims: Several intervention studies have examined the effect of vitamin D supplementation on influenza or influenza-like illness, but their results have been inconsistent. We prospectively examined the association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D with influenza among Japanese workers. Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study in...

Aims: The control of blood glucose levels, blood pressure (BP), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels reduces the risk of diabetes complications; however, data are scarce on control status of these factors among workers with diabetes. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of participants with diabetes who meet glycate...

Measurement of blood pressure according to participating companies. (DOCX)

Measurement of glucose and HbA1c according to participating companies. (DOCX)

Objective: It remains unclear whether coffee drinking is associated with colorectal cancer risk. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies on this issue among the Japanese population. Methods: Original data were obtained from MEDLINE searches using PubMed or from searches of the 'Ichushi' database, complemented...

Objective: Dietary fiber may play a favorable role in mood through gut microbiota, but epidemiologic evidence linking mood to dietary fiber intake is scarce in free-living populations. We investigated cross-sectionally the associations of dietary intakes of total, soluble, insoluble, and sources of fiber with depressive symptoms among Japanese work...

Background: Diet-induced metabolic acidosis has been linked to cardiometabolic abnormalities in Westerners, but the evidence on this issue is scarce in Asians. Objective: The present study prospectively examined the association between dietary acid load and type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Japanese adults. Methods: Study participants were 27,809 men a...

Objective To examine the association between adherence to the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top and total and cause specific mortality. Design Large scale population based prospective cohort study in Japan with follow-up for a median of 15 years. Setting 11 public health centre areas across Japan. Participants 36 624 men and 42 970 women aged 45-75...

Appendix 1: Supplementary figures

Appendix 2: Supplementary tables

Background We sought to establish the optimal waist circumference (WC) cut-off point for predicting diabetes mellitus (DM) and to compare the predictive ability of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) criteria of the Joint Interim Statement (JIS) and the Japanese Committee of the Criteria for MetS (JCCMS) for DM in Japanese. Methods Participants of the J...

Objective: Increasing evidence has suggested a protective role of vitamin D on metabolic syndrome (MetS). However, studies addressing this issue are limited in Asia and it remains unclear whether calcium could modify the association. We examined the association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status with MetS, and the potential effect modif...

Objective Risk models and scores have been developed to predict incidence of type 2 diabetes in Western populations, but their performance may differ when applied to non-Western populations. We developed and validated a risk score for predicting 3-year incidence of type 2 diabetes in a Japanese population. Methods Participants were 37,416 men and...

Background: Leisure-time physical activity is associated with a lower risk of depression. However, the precise shape of the dose-response relationship remains elusive, and evidence is scarce regarding other domains of activity. We prospectively investigated associations of physical activity during leisure, work, and commuting with risk of depressi...

Aims: To examine the association of smoking status, smoking intensity, and smoking cessation with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) using a large database. Methods: The present study included 53,930 Japanese employees, aged 15 to 83 years, who received health check-up and did not have diabetes at baseline. Diabetes was defined as fasting plasma...

Diet may influence disease risk by modulating adipokines. Although some foods and nutrients have been linked to circulating adipokine levels, little is known about the role of dietary patterns on adipokines. We investigated the association between major dietary patterns and circulating levels of adiponectin, leptin, resistin, visfatin, and plasmino...

Poster Presentation: Hypertension (HTN) appears as a modern epidemic, a silent killer causing an estimated 7.1 million premature deaths and 4.5% of disease burden (64 million disability adjusted life years DALYs) thus a grave concern for the humanity. Although Bangladeshi populations are considered as having greater risk for HTN, however, there is...

Although intake of minerals has been suggested to be beneficial against depression, epidemiologic data from free-living settings are limited. The aim of this study was to determine the cross-sectional associations between the intake of magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc and the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Japanese employees. Participants w...