Abstract
To examine the relationship between health practice in combination with health examination data and mortality, a population-based prospective cohort study was conducted in 9 towns and villages of Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Public health nurses interviewed inhabitants about their health practices. This cohort consisting of 7,694 subjects aged 40∼60 years old at baseline in 1993 was followed. During the ten-year follow-up period, 99 males and 80 females deceased. The relative risks (RRs) of some factors were estimated by the Cox proportional hazards model. RRs and 95% confidence interval with multivariate adjustment for all-cause mortality were observed significantly for age in years at the baseline (1.08, 1.04∼1.12, p<0.01), GOT (1.02, 1.00∼1.05, p<0.05), GPT (0.98, 0.96∼1.00, p<0.05), and no proteinuria (0.36, 0.14∼0.91, p<0.05) in male subjects. In females, RRs (95% confidence interval) of age in years at baseline, GOT, and γ-GTP on mortality showed significance, which were 1.09 (1.05, 1.14, p<0.01), 1.03 (1.01, 1.05, p<0.01), and 1.01 (1.00, 1.01, p<0.05), respectively. When seven health practices and age in years at baseline were used as covariates, RRs (95% confidence interval) of age and no smoking on mortality showed 1.10 (1.06, 1.14, p<0.01) and 0.57 (0.37, 0.89, p<0.05), which were significant in males. In females, significant RRs (95% confidence interval) of age, no smoking and regular exercise on mortality were observed, which were 1.11 (1.07, 1.15, p<0.01), 0.48 (0.24, 0.94, p<0.05), and 1.63 (1.01, 2.63, p<0.05), respectively. These results suggested that increased risk of death was independently associated with aging, GOT, and smoking in males and females. In addition, there was a sex difference in lifestyle-related factors such as exercise, and health examination data such as proteinuria contributing to mortality in middle-aged general inhabitants in rural towns in Japan.
