. Subjects were 620 female nurses (Average age: 23.9) who started their careers in April 1997 and continued working in the same hospitals for two years and three months until the time of the survey. A questionnaire consisting mainly of items concerning sleep disorders from the Japanese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was distributed to the subjects.Results: Significant associations were observed between working on night shift and the use of alcoholic beverages to help induce sleep, and between working on night shift and daytime drowsiness. Significant differences were also observed between two and three-shift systems with regard to subjective sleep quality. Moreover, average hours of sleep were significantly associated with three related sleep items: subjective sleep quality, difficulty in getting to sleep, and daytime drowsiness. Conclusion: Results suggest that in Japanese shift-work systems, sufficient sleep hours are needed for nurses who work night shift to ensure good quality of sleep and consequently better services for patients. (J Occup Health 2001; 43: 150-156)

The subjects of this study were 405 Japan Medical Association authorized industrial physicians, Community Industrial Physicians (CIPs), who belonged to the Shinjuku, Nakano, and Suginami Words' regional medical associations in the jurisdiction of the Shinjuku Labor Standards Inspection Office. Between November and December, 2003, the CIPs were mailed a questionnaire requesting information about their affiliations and activities, and as indicators of their willingness to participate in Community Occupational Health Services, they were asked about the pros and cons of having their names published as Industrial Physicians, and/or practitioners for Regional Occupational Health Centers, or Regular Health Checks. 152 replies were received, effective response rate of 37.5%, and among these 94 replies were from CIPs who work as part-time industrial physician. Overall, CIPs attend Community Occupational Health Services (COHS) voluntarily, and wish to participate in them more in the future. CIPs who work as part-time industrial physician have knowledge of working safety and hygiene and are providing advice and guidance on working conditions and environments. Also, they are well informed about support services for small and medium-sized enterprises which is thought to be connected with their willingness to participate in COHS. Furthermore, it is important that part-time CIPs activities are appreciated by their respective place of work.

The relationships among the income (expenditures) level, expenditure for education and tobacco consumption were analyzed based on the data of workers' households reported in Family Income and Expenditure Survey of Japan between 1980 and 1995. For all the observed years, elasticities of tobacco to living expenditure were less than -0.4 and the deviation from zero point had increased (-0.41 in 1980, and -0.95 in 1995). By contrast, elasticities of education to living expenditure were over 1.5 for the observed period. In the case of income elasticity, values of tobacco were negative with the same chronological tendency as in elasticity to living expenditure and those of education were around 1.10. The findings regarding the relationship between income level and tobacco consumption was quite different from most of the studies conducted in western countries, which suggested a positive elasticity between the two. According to the present results, we discussed two strategies in order to reduce the smoking prevalence rate in Japan: education and an increase in the cigarette price by higher cigarette taxes.