The association between employee lifestyles and the rates of mental health-related absenteeism and turnover in Japanese companies.

We assessed the association of employee lifestyles (e.g., smoking, exercise, drinking, and sleep habits) with mental health-related absenteeism and turnover rates utilizing data from the annual Health and Productivity Management survey by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. This analysis included data from 1,748 companies, encompassing 4,199,021 employees. The average proportions of mental health-related absenteeism and employee turnover rates were 1.1% (±1.0%) and 5.0% (±5.0%), respectively. In multivariable regression models that incorporated all lifestyle factors and confounders, a 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of employees who slept well was associated with reductions in their turnover rate (mean -0.020%; 95% CI, -0.038% to -0.002%) and in mental health-related absenteeism (mean -0.005%; 95% CI, -0.009% -0.001%). A similar increase in the proportion of employees engaging in regular physical activity corresponded with a 0.005% decrease in the prevalence of mental health-related absenteeism (95% CI, -0.010% to -0.001%). A 1 percentage point increase in the proportion of employees who smoked was associated with a 0.013% reduction in mental health-related absenteeism (95% CI, -0.017% to -0.008%). Nonetheless, the current study's observational and cross-sectional design restricted the ability to establish causality between employee lifestyle factors and mental health issues.

The associations of the national health and productivity management program with corporate profits in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: Using a dataset from a survey on national health and productivity management, we identified health and productivity factors associated with organizational profitability. METHODS: The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry conducted an annual survey on Health and Productivity Management between 2014 and 2021. We assessed the associations of organizational health and productivity management using survey questions collected in 2017 and 2018, with the rate of change in profits from 2017 and 2018 to 2020. We identified factors associated with organizational profitability using eXtreme Gradient Boosting, and calculated SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) values for each factor. RESULTS: Among 1,593 companies (n= 4,359,834 employees), the mean age of employees at baseline was 40.3 years and the proportion of women was 25.8%. A confusion matrix for evaluating model performance had an accuracy of 0.997, precision of 0.993, recall of 0.997, and area under the precision-recall curve of 0.999. The most important factors related to an increase in corporate profits were the percentage of current smokers (SHAP value, 0.121), per-employee cost of health services (0.084) and medical services (0.050); the percentage of full-time employees working in sales departments (0.074) and distribution or customer service departments (0.054); the percentage of employees who slept well (0.055); and the percentage of employees within a company who regularly exercised (0.043). CONCLUSIONS: Employees' lifestyle-related health risk factors and organizations' management systems were associated with organizational profitability. Lifestyle medicine professionals may demonstrate a significant return on investment by creating a healthier and more productive workforce.

Blood pressure response after two-step exercise as a powerful predictor of hypertension: the Osaka Health Survey.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between blood pressure at 4 min after exercise using a Master's two-step and the risk for hypertension. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Work site in Osaka, Japan. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 6557 Japanese men, aged 35-63 years with systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) < 90 mmHg, and no history of hypertension or diabetes at baseline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blood pressure was measured by standard techniques, using 160/95 mmHg for diagnosis of hypertension. Normotension was defined as no history of hypertension, and SBP < 130 mmHg and DBP < 85 mmHg. High normal blood pressure was defined as no history of hypertension and SBP >or= 130 and < 140 mmHg or DBP >or= 85 and < 90 mmHg. RESULTS: During the 63 696 person-years follow-up period, we confirmed 660 cases of hypertension. SBP and DBP after exercise were associated with an increased risk for developing hypertension. The multiple-adjusted relative risk for SBP and DBP after exercise were 1.55 per 10 mmHg (confidence interval, 1.42-1.69) and 1.55 per 10 mmHg (confidence interval, 1.42-1.69), respectively. These associations were independent of resting SBP and DBP. Even after stratifying subjects according to blood pressure at rest, SBP or DBP at 4 min after exercise was associated with an increased risk for hypertension in subjects with normotension or high normal blood pressure at rest. CONCLUSIONS: The blood pressure response after exercise with a two-step was associated with an increased risk for hypertension, independently of resting blood pressures.