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Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries

Despite an increasing number of students studying abroad worldwide, evidence about health risks while they are abroad is limited. Diarrhea is considered the most common travelers’ illness, which would also apply to students studying abroad. We examined diarrhea and related personal characteristics a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Yamakawa, Michiyo, Tsuda, Toshihide, Wada, Keiko, Nagata, Chisato, Suzuki, Etsuji
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9956663/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36827397
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279426
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author Yamakawa, Michiyo
Tsuda, Toshihide
Wada, Keiko
Nagata, Chisato
Suzuki, Etsuji
author_facet Yamakawa, Michiyo
Tsuda, Toshihide
Wada, Keiko
Nagata, Chisato
Suzuki, Etsuji
author_sort Yamakawa, Michiyo
collection PubMed
description Despite an increasing number of students studying abroad worldwide, evidence about health risks while they are abroad is limited. Diarrhea is considered the most common travelers’ illness, which would also apply to students studying abroad. We examined diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese students studying abroad. Japanese university students who participated in short-term study abroad programs between summer 2016 and spring 2018 were targeted (n = 825, 6–38 travel days). Based on a 2-week-risk of diarrhea (passing three or more loose or liquid stools per day) among travelers by country, the destination was separated into intermediate- and low-risk countries. After this stratification, the associations between personal characteristics and diarrhea during the first two weeks of their stay were evaluated using logistic regression models. Among participants in intermediate-risk countries, teenagers, males and those with overseas travel experience were associated with an elevated risk of diarrhea; the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 2.42 (1.08–5.43) for teenagers (vs. twenties), 1.93 (1.08–3.45) for males (vs. females) and 2.37 (1.29–4.33) for those with overseas experience (vs. none). Even restricting an outcome to diarrhea during the first week did not change the results substantially. The same tendency was not observed for those in the low-risk countries. Teenage students, males and those with overseas travel experience should be cautious about diarrhea while studying abroad, specifically in intermediate-risk countries.
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spelling pubmed-99566632023-02-25 Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries Yamakawa, Michiyo Tsuda, Toshihide Wada, Keiko Nagata, Chisato Suzuki, Etsuji PLoS One Research Article Despite an increasing number of students studying abroad worldwide, evidence about health risks while they are abroad is limited. Diarrhea is considered the most common travelers’ illness, which would also apply to students studying abroad. We examined diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese students studying abroad. Japanese university students who participated in short-term study abroad programs between summer 2016 and spring 2018 were targeted (n = 825, 6–38 travel days). Based on a 2-week-risk of diarrhea (passing three or more loose or liquid stools per day) among travelers by country, the destination was separated into intermediate- and low-risk countries. After this stratification, the associations between personal characteristics and diarrhea during the first two weeks of their stay were evaluated using logistic regression models. Among participants in intermediate-risk countries, teenagers, males and those with overseas travel experience were associated with an elevated risk of diarrhea; the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 2.42 (1.08–5.43) for teenagers (vs. twenties), 1.93 (1.08–3.45) for males (vs. females) and 2.37 (1.29–4.33) for those with overseas experience (vs. none). Even restricting an outcome to diarrhea during the first week did not change the results substantially. The same tendency was not observed for those in the low-risk countries. Teenage students, males and those with overseas travel experience should be cautious about diarrhea while studying abroad, specifically in intermediate-risk countries. Public Library of Science 2023-02-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9956663/ /pubmed/36827397 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279426 Text en © 2023 Yamakawa et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Yamakawa, Michiyo
Tsuda, Toshihide
Wada, Keiko
Nagata, Chisato
Suzuki, Etsuji
Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title_full Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title_fullStr Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title_full_unstemmed Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title_short Diarrhea and related personal characteristics among Japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
title_sort diarrhea and related personal characteristics among japanese university students studying abroad in intermediate- and low-risk countries
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9956663/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36827397
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279426
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