[Comparison of lifestyle, mental stress, and medical check-up results between Tanshin-funin workers and workers living with their families].

Abstract

We conducted a comparative analysis of lifestyle, mental stress, and medical check-up results between tanshin-funin workers and workers living with their families. Study participants were 3,026 married men, aged 40-59 yr, who worked at a large financial firm in Japan. Tanshin-funin was defined as married men separated from their families due to workplace assignments, as determined by a self-administered questionnaire in 2004. Participants' lifestyle factors, including exercise, alcohol and smoking consumption, and dietary habits, and mental stress, including lack of vigor, irritability, fatigue, anxiety, depressed mood, and physical complaints, were examined using a self-administered questionnaire. Medical check-ups conducted in 2004 included measurements of BMI, SBP, DBP, FBS, GOT, GPT, γ-GTP, TC, TG, HDL, RBC, and WBC. An analysis of lifestyle factors, using the χ(2) test, indicated that fewer tanshin-funin workers exercise, and that they had fewer regularly-scheduled meals. Tanshin-funin workers smoked more and consumed more alcohol, but ate fewer green and yellow vegetables. Tanshin-funin workers had fewer commuting hours and took fewer days off. Tanshin-funin workers also suffered more frequently from irritability and anxiety. A regression analysis, adjusted for age and smoking status, indicated that levels of TC, TG, and WBC for tanshin-funin workers were higher than workers living with their families. The lifestyle habits of tanshin-funin workers, such as dietary habits, were worse than those of workers living with their families, and tanshin-funin workers suffered from more irritability and anxiety. Clinical markers, such as dyslipidemia, were worse among tanshin-funin workers than among workers living with their families.