Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of cardiometabolic risk factors among workers: results from the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health study
Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on human activities have greatly changed lifestyles, which might have deteriorated the cardiometabolic profile. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of cardiometabolic risk factors among Japanese workers in fiscal years (FY) 2020 and 2021 compared with the prepandemic period. METHOD: This study comprised an average of 71 025 employees in Japan who underwent annual health check-ups for at least two successive years from 2015 to 2021. Annual incidence rates from 2016 to 2021 were assessed for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and metabolic syndrome (MetS). The observed incidence rates in 2020 and 2021 were compared with the predicted incidence based on prepandemic trends (2016 to 2019). RESULTS: Relative to the prepandemic, the incidence of all the outcomes, except for dyslipidaemia, significantly increased in 2020. Between FY 2016 and 2019, the adjusted mean incidence of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia and MetS was 5.0%, 1.4%, 5.3%, 17.4% and 7.6%, respectively. In FY 2020, the adjusted incidence (95% CI) of these outcomes increased to 6.02 (5.80 to 6.24), 1.84 (1.73 to 1.96), 6.62 (6.40 to 6.83), 19.31 (18.83 to 19.78) and 8.51 (8.23 to 8.78), which were higher than the predicted incidence of 5.24 (4.99 to 5.49), 1.54 (1.41 to 1.67), 6.02 (5.76 to 6.27), 18.58 (18.00 to 19.16) and 8.05 (7.71 to 8.38) for 2020, respectively. The incidence returned to the prepandemic levels in FY 2021. CONCLUSION: Results showed a worsening of the cardiometabolic profile during the initial year of the pandemic, which was reverted in the second year to the levels before the pandemic.
Authors: Zobida Islam, Shohei Yamamoto, Yosuke Inoue, Toru Honda, Shuichiro Yamamoto, Tohru Nakagawa, Hiroko Okazaki, Hiroshi Ide, Toshiaki Miyamoto, Takeshi Kochi, Takayuki Ogasawara, Makoto Yamamoto, Naoki Gonmori, Kenya Yamamoto, Toshitaka Yokoya, Maki Konishi, Seitaro Dohi, Isamu Kabe, Tetsuya Mizoue
Institutions: National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Hitachi (Japan), Mitsui Chemicals (Japan), Nippon Steel (Japan), Furukawa Electric (Japan), Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus (Japan), JFE Steel Corporation (Japan), National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan), Kubota (Japan)
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G1894528168, G1901034624, G2112411051, G2221380702, G227339778, G2453123423, Development of diabetec risk score and study on the association with blood nutrients among workers, G3009749969, Workplace multicenter study on the use of heated tobacco products and its health effect among employees, G8335990033, G834566351, Brain-derived neurotrophic factor as predictor of depression, and dietary and nutritional factors in a Japanese working population, Development of risk scores for cardiovascular events and serious diseases among workers
OpenAlex ID: W4403536153