To investigate treatment preferences of Japanese patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (la/mUC).

A discrete-choice experiment survey methodology was used to elicit patient preferences for attributes of la/mUC treatment, including adverse events (nausea/vomiting, neuropathy, alopecia and maculopapular rash), hospital stay requirements for treatment administration and overall survival. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to estimate treatment preferences. Coefficients of the model were then used to calculate the relative importance of each treatment attribute.

Participants were recruited through healthcare facilities with urology departments across Japan.

The study included 109 patients (72.5% male; mean (SD) age, 71.3 (8.9) years). Patients preferred treatments that minimised adverse events that could affect their daily activities, had a more favourable survival profile and did not require hospital stays for administration. Neuropathy emerged as the most important attribute to patients when making treatment decisions (relative attribute importance (RAI), 27.7%), followed by nausea/vomiting (RAI, 27.3%), maculopapular rash (RAI, 16.5%), hospital stay requirements (RAI, 12.1%), alopecia (RAI, 8.2%) and overall survival (RAI, 8.1%). Findings were similar across various subgroup analyses, though patients who were chemotherapy-experienced prioritised avoidance of neuropathy and nausea/vomiting more highly than those who were chemotherapy-naïve.

In this study, Japanese patients with la/mUC were more concerned about reduced quality of life due to adverse events than extending survival by 6 months. Patients, clinicians and other members of the care team need to communicate frequently and candidly about a patient’s well-being.

To characterise patient and medication-related patterns observed in drug-related pressure ulcers (DRPUs) and provide descriptive findings that may support future consensus-building.

Multicentre retrospective observational study.

20 hospitals across Japan participated in the study with hospital pharmacists specialised in PU care.

A total of 1113 hospitalised patients with existing PUs were included and classified into three groups (definite, probable and no-possibility of DRPUs) based on predefined criteria.

The primary outcome was the description of medication-related characteristics observed in each DRPU classification group, including polypharmacy, initiation of new medications and dose adjustments. Secondary outcomes included differences in ulcer characteristics and functional status across DRPU categories.

The definite group (n=128, 11.5%) showed a significantly higher prevalence of polypharmacy (83.6% vs 71.1% in the no-possibility group, p

Medication-related characteristics such as polypharmacy, initiation of new medications, dose modifications and use of antipsychotics were more frequently observed in the definite DRPU group. These descriptive findings may help characterise the clinical patterns of DRPUs and may inform future hypothesis generation.

This study aims to estimate the prevalence and dual use of cigarettes, heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among individuals aged 18–24 in Japan.

This cross-sectional study involved a door-to-door survey administered by trained interviewers using a structured questionnaire.

Individuals aged 18–24 residing in 220 areas within 10 ordinance-designated cities (Sapporo, Sendai, Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Sagamihara, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka) as well as Tokyo’s 23 wards in Japan in 2019 were included.

A total of 1738/5500 individuals were included in the analysis, with participants evenly distributed by sex, age and residential area.

Cigarette, HTP and e-cigarette use was assessed.

The weighted prevalence of the current use of cigarettes, HTPs and e-cigarettes accounted for 10.1% (95% CI 8.7, 11.5), 5.1% (95% CI 4.1, 6.1) and 1.8% (95% CI 1.2, 2.4), respectively. Approximately 68.2% of the people who used HTPs at the time were dual users of both HTPs and cigarettes. There was a significant gap in tobacco product use between individuals aged 20–24 and those aged 18–19, with this difference remaining after adjusting for covariates.

In 2019, cigarettes were the most used tobacco-related product among young adults in Japan. Smoking initiation appears to notably increase at age 20 when smoking becomes legal in Japan. The prevalence of HTP use among young adults in Japan is notably higher than in other countries.

Preoperative biliary drainage (PBD) is often required for patients with pancreatic cancer accompanied by biliary obstruction to ensure the safe administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy or to manage cholangitis and jaundice. Although endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is the standard approach for PBD, it carries a significant risk of post-ERCP pancreatitis. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage (EUS-BD), particularly via hepaticogastrostomy (EUS-HGS), offers a promising alternative that avoids papillary manipulation. However, the clinical utility of EUS-BD as primary drainage for PBD remains unclear due to a lack of prospective studies. This multicentre prospective trial aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of EUS-HGS as primary drainage for PBD in patients with resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

This multicentre prospective study involves seven institutions in Japan. Eligible patients will undergo EUS-HGS using a 7Fr plastic stent. The primary endpoint is clinical success, defined by improvements in bilirubin or liver enzyme levels within 14 days postprocedure. Secondary endpoints include technical success rate, adverse event incidence, stent patency and surgical outcomes. A total of 30 patients will be enrolled, considering an expected clinical success rate of 90% and a 10% dropout allowance.

This study has been approved by the National Cancer Center Institutional Review Board (Research No. 2024-084). The results of this study will be reported at an international conference and published in an international peer-reviewed journal.

UMIN ID: 000055173.

To assess cervical cancer screening positivity rates, follow-up rescreening uptake 1 year after treatment and persistent positivity among women with initial positive screening results in Ethiopia. The study also explored reasons for loss to follow-up and preferences for reminder strategies.

Longitudinal cross-sectional study.

10 primary healthcare facilities in Oromia and southern and central Ethiopia.

From November 2022 to April 2024, 17 586 women screened for cervical cancer. Of these 768 (4.4%) had positive screening results, and 515 women treated at the primary level were included to assess follow-up rescreening uptake. An additional 139 women who did not return for follow-up were interviewed to identify reasons for non-uptake and reminder preferences.

Of the 515 women included in the analysis, 179 (34.8%, 95% CI: 30.6% to 38.8%) returned for follow-up rescreening. Among those re-screened, the persistent visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) positivity rate was 16.1% (95% CI: 11.0% to 21.7%). Factors significantly associated with follow-up rescreening uptake included age over 40 (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.5; 95% CI: 1.34 to 5.00), urban residence (AOR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.15 to 2.58), secondary or higher education (AOR: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.06 to 4.12) and HIV-positive status (AOR: 2.4; 95% CI: 1.27 to 4.87). Among the 139 women contacted, the main reasons for non-uptake were lack of time, forgetting appointments, visiting another facility and pregnancy. Regarding preferred reminders, 93% favoured text messages and all agreed to phone calls or home visits.

One-third of women adhered to follow-up rescreening after a positive cervical cancer screening in Ethiopia, revealing a considerable gap since those women had a three times higher chance of being VIA positive compared with the first screening. Older age, urban residence, higher education and HIV-positive status were significantly linked to follow-up rescreening uptake. Addressing barriers such as time constraints and forgotten appointments through tailored reminder strategies is essential for improving the follow-up rescreening uptake. Contextualised interventions can strengthen rescreening for finding those women at very high risk for cervical lesions and strengthen cervical cancer prevention in Ethiopia.

NCT06515301.