Abstract
Two different types of health examinations were performed in a rural town in Kyoto Prefecture. The first involved a blood pressure (BP) check, and body height and weight measurements (1978-82); the other was a multiphasic health examination (MHE) conducted between 1983 and 1987. The characteristics of the two groups were surveyed by questionnaire in 1985, and blood pressure (BP) and obesity index (OI; real body weight/standard×100) examined in BP checks (1978-82), were compared in this study. Group I, consisted of those who had participated in a BP check at least once previously (1978-82) and also in a MHE at least once (1983-87); Group II, consisted of those who had participated in a BP check at least once, but not in a MHE for the corresponding periods. The purpose of this study was to clarify the health conditions for each group in order to determine whether the participants did indeed represent persons who needed to be screened by MHE.
The subjects were selected from among those who responded to a questionnaire that included the following: social factors: past history of diseases and present illnesses, and smoking, drinking, and dietary habits. Group I consisted of 237 males and 390 females who were matched according to sex and age in 1985 (within a range of 3 years), location in the town, and the frequency of BP checks for 1978-82 (within 1 time), with a corresponding number of subjects in Group II. Analyses using McNemar's test and the multivariate analysis of the quantification method of Hayashi were performed for factors in the questionnaire. The rates of hypertensive people (>140mmHg in systole, or >90mmHg in diastole) and obese people (>110%) were also compared between Groups I and II.
The most important predictors for male and female participation in the MHE were the tendency to have a past history of diseases and a higher incidence of present illnesses, and they frequently visited medical facilities. Group I females demonstrated a more positive behavior pattern for health in dietary habits and were more likely to participate in the health service system. The BP levels and OI in Group I were not different from those in Group II. These findings suggest that Group I people took better care of their health and participated in the MHE because of their previous contact with diseases, and also suggest that Group II females had a possibly increased risk of chronic disease because they demonstrated a less positive behavior pattern toward health in dietary habits.
