Affiliations: Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon
Medical School, Tokyo, Japan | Gunma Industrial Health Promotion Center, Gunma,
Japan
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Tomoyuki Kawada, MD, Department of
Hygiene and Public Health, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-Ku,
Tokyo 113-8602, Japan. Tel.: +81 3 3822 2131, Fax +81 3 5685 3065; E-mail:
[email protected]
Abstract: Background: The physical symptoms and mental health status of 3,447
men working in a dairy product company were evaluated by a health
questionnaire, the Todai Health Index (THI). The purpose of this study is to
determine the relationship between job content and subjective health status.
Method: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study.
Thirty-three branches of the company are distributed throughout Japan. The
subjects ranged in age from 18 to 59 years old. The THI is composed of 130
questions and each subject's physical and mental health status was evaluated
based on the scores in 13 specific scales. The subjects' jobs were classified
into three categories: 1 production process work; 2 clerical or technical work;
3 transportation or sales work. Subjects grouped into the clerical or technical
work category were set as the control group, because the authors speculated
that the lowest workload was observed in group of clerical or technical work.
Results: The scores in each of the THI scales were compared
among workers in the three job categories stratified by the age group (10-year
age groups). The transportation or sales workers began to show high scores for
irregularity of lifestyle from their 30's, and this was maintained until
subjects' retirement from the company. In addition, the same group also began
to show higher scores for physical symptoms, such as vague complaints,
respiratory complaints, and eye complaints from their 40's and higher scores
for mouth and evacuation and digestive complaints from their 50's. Conclusions: Transportation or sales workers should receive
adequate health care to prevent a high prevalence of physical and/or
illness.
Keywords: Perceived health, type of job, questionnaire
