Utility of a Specific Health Checkup Database Containing Lifestyle Behaviors and Lifestyle Diseases for Employee Health Insurance in Japan

Abstract

Background:The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare introduced Specific Health Checkups (SHC) to identify individuals at risk of metabolic syndrome (MS). This study aimed to describe the SHC database developed by the Japan Medical Data Center Co., Ltd. (JMDC) as a means of exploring lifestyle behaviors and lifestyle diseases among working generations. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study of employees and their families using the JMDC-SHC database to describe the prevalence of lifestyle behaviors (smoking, exercise, dietary habits, drinking habits, and sleeping) and lifestyle diseases (MS, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus). Results were compared with data from the 2015 National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHNS) in Japan as a benchmark. Results: All 646,869 enrollees in the JMDC-SHC database were included, of whom 66.5% were men. Age ranged from 40-74 years. Compared with the results of the NHNS, the JMDC-SHC subjects were younger and had fewer MS components and a lower prevalence of diabetes and hypertension. Subjects in their 40s were most likely to have unhealthy lifestyle behaviors in all age groups (eg, smoking: 41.0% in men and 10.2% in women). The SHC group had more favorable behaviors overall, but underweight was more prevalent in the SHC females. Conclusions: The JMDC-SHC population showed different lifestyle and lifestyle disease profiles to the NHNS population, probably due to its different age, gender, and employment distributions. Development of healthcare policies and plans for working generations would benefit from the selection of an age-and employment-appropriate database.

An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis of Prevalence and Consultation Rate for Dyslipidemia in Japan

“…The details of the specific health checkups have been reported elsewhere. 9,13,14 We used triglyceride data in this study, and the numbers of subjects in whom this parameter was measured per year were as follows: 2013, 21,899,582; 2014, 23,849,334; 2015, 24,720,546; and 2016, 25,074,510. 15 A person was diagnosed with dyslipidemia if the triglyceride concentration exceeded 150 mg/dL.…”

“…The details of the specific health checkups have been reported elsewhere. 9,13,14 We used triglyceride data in this study, and the numbers of subjects in whom this parameter was measured per year were as follows: 2013, 21 2 We calculated the prevalence of dyslipidemia in each year and sex using the ratio of the number of subjects whose triglyceride levels exceeded this cutoff to the total number of subjects.…”

Association Between Psychological Distress and Stress-Related Symptoms and Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in Male Individuals: An Observational Study

“…We evaluated the following anthropometric and biochemical variables: height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, HbA1c, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides. The self-administered questionnaire items on lifestyle behavior (smoking and exercise) were defined based on the definitions used for the Specific Health Checkup [ 16 ]. Diabetes was defined as a HbA1c level ≥ 6.5% or use of diabetes medication according to recent American Diabetes Association recommendations [ 17 ].…”

Eating and drinking habits and its association with obesity in Japanese healthy adults: retrospective longitudinal big data analysis using a health check-up database

“…In 2008, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare introduced annual health screening and health promotion services called 'Specific Health Checkups and Specific Health Guidance.' Every citizen aged 40-74 years can receive a questionnaire survey of lifestyle, laboratory tests and anthropometric values for diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome (22) .…”