Quality of life and lifestyle among city dwellers participating in the medical programs

Abstract

In order to offer health education to the general population, taking into account not only their physical health but also their QOL (quality of life), it is necessary to clarify what guidance should be provided in the sight of QOL. In this study, the relationship between QOL and lifestyle was investigated in 615 Japanese (402 males, 213 females; ranging in age from teens to nineties; mean age, 43.4 ± 16.3 years) undergoing medical checkups. After informed consent was obtained, subjects completed a questionnaire incorporating the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey as a QOL scale in addition to questions concerning individual and lifestyle factors. The results showed that most individual factors and lifestyle factors evaluated were related to QOL. In particular, the physical health QOL of elderly subjects, females, and single subjects, was lower than that of other subjects. Moreover, subjects who ate 'irregular meals' and had 'less than 6 h sleep' reported lower mental health QOL scores than those who ate 'regular meals' and had '6 h or more sleep'. Smoking and alcohol consumption were not as significantly related to QOL as anticipated. Taking these findings into account, it is clear that it is necessary to offer medical and health services focusing on meals and sleep for medical program attendants in order to improve QOL.

Smoking habits and health-related quality of life in a rural Japanese population

“…The results in this study that there was no association between smoking habits and SF-36 scores coincide with the result of similar studies in Japan [12][13][14]. However, they do not agree with studies in foreign countries [5][6][7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…In addition, Japan is the only country where male smoking prevalence exceeds 40% [21] among the countries where similar studies were conducted [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. According to Lopez's four-stage model [22], countries show similar patterns of change in their smoking prevalence.…”

“…However, similar studies conducted in Japan showed little or no association between them [12][13][14]. If Japanese smokers are less sensitive to the deterioration in their own HRQOL, we will need to keep this in mind when organizing smoking control programs.…”

“…Previous studies in Japan were conducted in Tokyo [12], Koriyama City [13], and ex-Ohito Town [14]. Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world.…”

Working Women's Lifestyles and Quality of Life in the Information Society

“…• Questions related to lifestyle: 18 Likert-type questions of five degrees (1 = never to 5 = always) that also requested information on behaviors related to diet, prevention, risk, regularity, perceived time pressure, and the practice of physical activity (see Table 3). These dimensions or axes in relation to lifestyle, as well as questions about specific behaviors related to each dimension, are the result of a review of the literature on the subject (Blanchard et al, 2004;Matsushita & Matsushima, 2004;Pronk et al, 2004;Tashiro, 2002) and a content analysis of field interviews and notes that we conducted in a preliminary phase of collecting qualitative information on lifestyle (Psinet, 2007). …”