The socioeconomic status (SES) and health behaviors of workers are associated with the risks of developing obesity, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and other cardiovascular diseases. Herein, we investigated the factors influencing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk based on the SES of male and female workers. This cross-sectional analysis used the National Health Information Database to assess the associations between gender, SES (income level, residential area), health behaviors, and CVD-related health status of workers, through multinomial logistic regression. Upon analysis of a large volume of data on workers during 2016, the smoking and drinking trends of male and female workers were found to differ, causing different odds ratio (OR) tendencies of the CVD risk. Also, while for male workers, higher ORs of obesity or abdominal obesity were associated with higher incomes or residence in metropolitan cities, for female workers, they were associated with lower incomes or residence in rural areas. Additionally, among the factors influencing CVD risk, lower income and residence in rural areas were associated with higher CVD risk for male and female workers. The study findings imply the importance of developing gender-customized intervention programs to prevent CVD, due to gender-specific associations between CVD-related health status and health behaviors according to SES. Health Information Database (NHIS-NHID), was employed to verify the association between the SES of male and female workers in Korea and their CVD-related health statuses. The findings of this study will contribute to the production of basic statistics with large volumes of data through an analysis of the factors influencing CVD risk in male and female workers. Materials and Methods Data SourcesThe NHIS of Korea provides health insurance cover to the entire population of the country [13] and allows an insured worker and his or her dependent to receive a free annual or biannual health examination [15]. Based on the NHIS, the national health information database has a large volume of data, including 1.3 trillion pieces of information on the qualifications, premiums, health examination results, and treatment records of the entire population [16]. The NHIS-NHID is the dataset prepared by extracting, summarizing, and processing the health insurance information collected, possessed, and managed by the NHIS for study purposes, while ensuring that personal information cannot be identified [16]. The NHIS-NHID consists of the qualification database, the health examination database, and the claim database [15]. The qualification database includes gender differentiated into male and female, age, premium, and residential area. The premium is defined as the amount paid thus far by the insured worker, and it is categorized into one of 20 quintiles. The residential area is categorized into codes representing the area of residence of the insured. The health examination database contains data from a regular health examination and the accompanying health questi...

This study attempts to develop and verify the effectiveness of a health promotion program for office workers based on the social ecological model and the World Health Organization’s Healthy Workplace Framework. This study involved 272 office workers of a small and medium-sized enterprise in Korea. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni correction using SPSS/WIN 23.0. Workplace environmental support was provided to all workers, while a 6-month intensive core program based on social support was implemented for the intensive management group. Based on the participation rate, individuals were divided into the core and dropout groups. In all office workers, there were negative changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and job stress during the period. Meanwhile, the intensive group showed significant changes in body mass index and diastolic blood pressure. The study suggests that the organization’s support for a healthy environment and an individual’s continued participation based on social support are essential for the effectiveness of a health promotion program for office workers.

Background: Workers’ cardiovascular health can be influenced by individual willingness to practice healthy behaviors. A mobile health management program with a challenge strategy was administered to promote workers’ healthy behaviors among small to medium-sized enterprises. Methods: A 12-week program consisted of health communication with a challenge strategy was administered to the workers. Results: The intervention group showed significantly improved scores for cardiovascular disease-related health behavior (Z = −2.44, P = 0.013), the job stress contributing factor of inadequate social support (F = 4.10, P = 0.049), and the cardiovascular disease-related health status of waist circumference (t = 3.22, P = 0.004), body fat (Z = −2.23, P = 0.024), and triglycerides (Z = −3.04, P = 0.001). Conclusion: This study's significance is its potential for increasing the convenience and joy of participating in intervention programs and acquiring health information through mobile platforms, which are easily accessible to the workers.

ObjectiveHealth behaviour is one of the major determinants of cardiovascular diseases in working population. This study was tried to investigate the trend of cardiovascular health level, the relationship between continuous health behaviours, and changes in the risk of cardiovascular diseases of male workers by using a nationwide database.DesignThis study is a retrospective cohort study.Setting and participantsThe study analysed data of 57 837 male workers whose personal health examination data were continuously traced using Korea’s National Health Insurance Service–National Sample Cohort 2.0 database.Primary outcome measuresA 10-year trend for all cardiovascular risks and change for the risks according to the consistent performance of healthy behaviours.ResultsThe results showed that the risk of being overweight (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.63, 95% CI 1.59 to 1.68) and obese (aOR 1.51, 95% CI 1.47 to 1.56) increased. The index of cardiovascular risk also increased for high fasting glucose (aOR 1.77, 95% CI 1.62 to 1.95) and high total cholesterol (aOR 1.68, 95% CI 1.60 to 1.76), respectively. The risks of high fasting glucose (aOR 2.09, 95% CI 1.40 to 3.13), high triglycerides (aOR 1.27, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.42) and high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (aOR 1.38, 95% CI 1.14 to 1.66) were increased among high-risk smokers. Similarly, the risk of high total cholesterol (aOR 2.20, 95% CI 1.35 to 3.58) and high triglycerides (aOR 1.42, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.85) were increased among high-risk drinkers. In addition, the increase in the risk of being overweight (aOR 2.20, 95% CI 1.83 to 2.65) and obese (aOR 1.90, 95% CI 1.59 to 2.27) were analysed among who had not consistently exercised.ConclusionsSince the pattern of change in the level of cardiovascular risk related to the continuous health behaviours of male workers was identified, the findings of the present study can be used as basic data to develop health promotion policies for the population.

Objective:There is scarce evidence revealing an association between job stress and cardiometabolic lifestyle modification behaviors among workers.Methods:A cross-sectional, correlation study was conducted among workers in high-risk and low-risk workplaces by work characteristics.Results:Workers in high-risk workplaces had significantly higher job stress levels than low-risk workplaces. Higher job stress was significantly associated with lower cardiometabolic lifestyle modification behaviors (β = −0.14, P = .001). This significant association was evident only for high-risk workplaces in total job stress (β = −0.16, P = .001), including job demand (β = −0.16, P = .005) and job insecurity (β = −0.11, P = .026).Conclusions:Strategies for alleviating job stress should be prioritized to high-risk workplaces, and these efforts may concomitantly contribute to cardiometabolic risk reduction.

Background: The study aimed to identify the core components and the limitations of the programs to improve the heart health among female workers.Methods: An integrative review was used, and the research from 1984 to 2021.Results: Seven studies of the heart health promotion program among female workers were included. All of the studies included physical activities and was found that most of the intervention were effective in promoting heart health. However, most of the studies did not mention the details of the intervention. Although studies reviewed in this paper included psychological factors as outcome measure, none of the intervention included psychological contents.Conclusions: This review can serve as a guidance to develop the standardized heart health promotion programs among female workers including not only physical activities but also psychological contents.

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Aims This study aimed to develop a reliable and valid scale, i.e. the Heart-Healthy Information Questionnaire (HHIQ). Methods and results The HHIQ was developed in three phases: (i) creating the item pool, (ii) conducting a preliminary evaluating the items, and (iii) refining the scale and evaluating psychometric properties. An initial item pool of 77 items with a 3-point True/False format with a ‘Don’t know’ option was extracted from the literature review and 54 items reached content validity. The psychometric properties of HHIQ were tested with 1315 individuals without cardiovascular disease. By using the exclusion criteria of the difficulty index (>0.95), discrimination index (<10.0), and item-total correlation (tetrachoric coefficient <0.2), 50 items were finally selected. The construct validity was determined by using the known-groups validation: Individuals (n = 107) who were educated with heart-healthy education sessions showed significantly higher scores of the HHIQ than those (n = 107) who were not educated (P = 0.015). The Kuder–Richardson formula 20 coefficient indicated good internal consistency (0.85), and the test–retest reliability coefficient with a 15-day interval also indicated good stability (0.78). A total score of the HHIQ was significantly correlated with a total score of the Evaluation Tool for Metabolic Syndrome Modification Lifestyles (ρ = 0.23, P < 0.001). Conclusion The HHIQ showed good psychometric properties of validity and reliability and may be useful to evaluate the knowledge levels of heart-healthy information in the areas of cardiovascular disease prevention.