Abstract
This study aimed to clarify the prevalence of excessive weight gain and the associated life style factors or mental factors of young office workers in a work site for the prevention of chronic diseases in the future.
The study subjects consisted of 574 men and 427 women who were younger than 35 years old and did not have any present illness during their annual physical examination in Tokyo, Japan, 2011.
The prevalence of chronic diseases, so called lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and so on, were very low in the subjects. However the prevalence of excessive weight gain was already high in the subjects, especially in men. Further analysis was considered in men.
The multiple logistic regression showed that five factors such as eating meals quickly, frequently eating until full, infrequent exercise, short duration (less than 1 hour) between eating dinner and going to sleep, and intensive sensations of physical weakness affected excessive weight gain.
In cross tabulation, there were relationships between the short duration from dinner to going to sleep and many mental factors. There were also relationships between intensive sensations of physical weakness and many eating behaviors, as well as several mental factors.
These results showed that excessive weight gain was caused by problems of eating behaviors, exercise and mental conditions in young male office workers, and occasionally those factors affected each other. In conclusion, physical examination and health services for the prevention of chronic diseases in the future of young office workers should be considered as a primary prevention of excessive weight gain and needs the comprehensive understanding of both physical and mental factors.
