Of the three classifications of healthy lifestyle habits, which one is the most closely associated with the prevention of metabolic syndrome in Japanese?
OBJECTIVE
Metabolic syndrome is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The predominant cause of metabolic syndrome is an unhealthy lifestyle. Healthy habits are represented by Breslow's 7 healthy practices, Morimoto's 8 items and Ikeda's 6 healthy habits. This study was done to determine which set of healthy habits was most likely to result in a reduced risk of developing the metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
From April 1, 2000 through March 31, 2007, 6,765 males and 2,789 females underwent a medical check-up at Jikei University Hospital in Japan. They completed a simple, self-administered lifestyle questionnaire based on the 3 classifications of healthy habits. The responses were divided into 3 groups (poor, moderate and favorable) according to each of the healthy habit criteria. The incidence of metabolic syndrome was defined in participants who were newly diagnosed during the follow-up using Japanese-specific diagnostic criteria. The Kaplan-Meier cumulative 7-year incidence was calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared using the long-rank test adjusted for age.


RESULTS
In females, Breslow's, Morimoto's and Ikeda's healthy habits showed significant differences in the incidence between poor and moderate groups, and between poor and favorable groups. In males, a significant difference was observed among the poor, moderate and favorable groups for Ikeda's healthy habits. However, no significant difference was observed for Breslow's healthy practices. Morimoto's items only showed a significant difference between the poor and moderate groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Among the 3 models tested, Ikeda's healthy habits were the most useful for decreasing the risk of metabolic syndrome in Japanese.
Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo. t_wada@jikei.ac.jp
Takashi
T
Wada
Tsutomu
T
Fukumoto
Kyoko
K
Ito
Yasutaka
Y
Hasegawa
Takanobu
T
Osaki
Hideyuki
H
Ban
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008019:Life Style / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000145:classification