#0018 Five‐year cumulative incidence of overweight and obesity, and longitudinal change in body mass index in Japanese workers: The Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study
Obesity Trends in the Japanese Working Population: A Longitudinal Study
Today, a staggeringly large population in the world is suffering from obesity, which increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. With the number of the affected increasing every year, obesity is now considered as a global epidemic. To find out the right strategy to prevent obesity, identifying the high-risk groups and their patterns is important. As work environment often affects lifestyle, assessing the incidence of overweight and obesity among working professionals is necessary.
In our study, we aimed to understand the incidence and development of obesity in the Japanese working population. For this, we conducted a survey on 55,229 professionals working across various industries. We collected the participants’ health data and assessed how their body mass index (BMI) changed over a period of 5 years.
Our findings revealed that men and women showed different obesity patterns. The incidence of overweight and obesity was almost double in men than in women. However, among the overweight individuals, women were more likely to develop obesity than men. This difference in weight gain patterns between men and women might be due to the different biological, behavioural, and social traits of the two genders.
We also found that the younger population was more prone to develop obesity than the older population. This trend was similar to the trend observed in other countries. We inferred that the lifestyle of younger population, such as higher consumption of animal protein or fat and lower physical activity, might contribute to the development of obesity.
To conclude, our findings highlight the different longitudinal trends of obesity in Japanese workers. We suggest that to control the incidence of obesity in this population, workplaces should conduct interventions (such as physical activities and weight reduction measures), and employees, especially the younger population, should be encouraged to participate in these programs.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1348-9585.12095
Title of the paper:
Five‐year cumulative incidence of overweight and obesity, and longitudinal change in body mass index in Japanese workers: The Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study
Authors:
Miyuki Hasegawa, Shamima Akter, Huanhuan Hu, Ikuko Kashino, Keisuke Kuwahara, Hiroko Okazaki, Naoko Sasaki, Takayuki Ogasawara, Masafumi Eguchi, Takeshi Kochi, Toshiaki Miyamoto, Tohru Nakagawa, Toru Honda, Shuichiro Yamamoto, Taizo Murakami, Makiko Shimizu, Akihiko Uehara, Makoto Yamamoto, Teppei Imai, Akiko Nishihara, Kentaro Tomita, Satsue Nagahama, Ai Hori, Maki Konishi, Isamu Kabe, Tetsuya Mizoue, Naoki Kunugita, Seitaro Dohi for the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study Group
