2010 Volume 25 Issue 1 Pages 71-76
Objective: The objective was to clarify the effects of continuous health guidance focusing on metabolic syndrome through changes in weight.
Methods: We compared numbers of persons gaining or losing weight and changes in average weight in 233 persons aged 40-69 undergoing a 2-day health check-up at our center continuously over 5 years from April 2004 to March 2009 for 2 periods - Period 1: 2004-2006; Period 2: 2006-2008 (weights in 2004 and 2006 used for Period 1 evaluation; weights in 2006 and 2008 used for Period 2 evaluation). For Period 1, a doctor explained the results to subjects and then gave them health guidance for about 10 minutes concerning abnormal measurements. For Period 2, in addition to taking abdominal girth measurements and conducting body composition tests, we organized a health class having health targets.
Results: In Period 1, the numbers of people whose weight increased by over 3 kg and between 1 and 3 kg were 23 and 53, respectively and the numbers of people whose weight decreased by more than 3 kg and between 1 and 3 kg were 26 and 41, respectively. There was no weight change in 89 people. In Period 2, the numbers of people whose weight increased by over 3 kg and between 1 and 3 kg were 14 and 23, respectively and the numbers of people whose weight decreased by more than 3 kg and between 1 and 3 kg were 53 and 61, respectively. There was no weight change in 82 people. Compared to Period 1, there was a significant increase in the number of people losing weight in Period 2 and there was a decrease in the number of people gaining weight (p<0.001). Regarding changes in average weight, in Period 1, there was an increase of 0.11 kg whereas there was a decrease of 1.25 kg in Period 2. The decrease in weight in Period 2 was significant (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Continuous health guidance focusing on metabolic syndrome was effective in achieving weight reduction.
