Associations of smoking status with other lifestyle behaviors are modified by sex and occupational category among urban civil servants in Japan

Abstract

Objectives The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of current smoking with five other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors among urban civil servants in Japan according to sex and occupational category. Methods The study included 10,232 urban civil servants in Japan who presented for a health check-up in 2011. We analyzed data on anthropometric measurements and selfreported lifestyle factors. Results Current smokers had a higher BMI than never smokers in white-collar workers, but not in blue-collar workers of both sexes. There were strong associations of current smoking with irregular breakfasting regardless of sex and occupational category. In males, current smokers were less likely to take exercise than ex-smokers in both occupational categories. Conclusions The associations of current smoking with other unhealthy behaviors were modified by sex and occupational category. These results are useful for understanding the health risks among smokers according to sex and occupational category.

The Association Between Education and Smoking Prevalence, Independent of Occupation: A Nationally Representative Survey in Japan

“…42 Another reason for a high rate of smoking in manual workers may be their hard physical tasks or a common practice of smoking at their workplace. 21,43 However, in this study, after mutual adjustment for education, only men aged 20-64 had a finding consistent with previous studies: manual workers were more likely to be current smokers than upper non-manual workers. For women, among those aged ≥65, upper non-manual workers had a significantly higher current smoking prevalence than manual workers.…”

“…41 For the association between occupation and smoking, many studies have reported a significant association between lower level occupations and a higher percentage of current smokers. 13,[19][20][21][22][23][24] It is well known that people with lower level occupations have more difficulties in successfully quitting smoking than those with higher level occupations because they are less likely to receive treatment and support to quit. 42 Another reason for a high rate of smoking in manual workers may be their hard physical tasks or a common practice of smoking at their workplace.…”

“…7,8 Especially, regarding reports on socioeconomic differences in smoking, many studies have focused on education and occupation, reporting that smoking is more prevalent among persons with less education, [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] those with lower occupational status, 13,19,20 and among blue-collar workers. [21][22][23][24] However, prior studies have the following limitations:…”

“…(1) subjects were limited to working-class participants, 16,18,[20][21][22][23][24] so it is conceivable that prior studies' findings have healthy worker effects; (2) although there are differences in age and gender groups on academic background, work situation, and smoking habit, stratified analyses by both age and gender were not conducted 9,11,13,[17][18][19][20]22,23 ; and (3) although smoking behavior is affected by many factors, 7,8,11,18 such as marital status, financial situation, medical conditions, and mental health, prior studies did not have enough variable adjustment. 9,10,12,[14][15][16]22,24 In Japan, Tabuchi et al investigated smoking inequalities to education 25 ; they found differences in age-and gender-specific educational gradients in smoking among Japanese adults, but lacked adequate adjustments and occupational variables.…”

Psychological and Behavioral Correlates of Readiness to Stop Smoking

“…The motivation to quit only appears to play a crucial role in predicting quit attempts (Smits et al, 2016), but not the final outcome. Consequently, other psychological factors other than motivation need to be investigated as shown by a number of studies (Higashibata, Wakai, Okada, Nakagawa & Hamajima, 2016;Masiero, Riva, Oliveri, Fioretti & Pravettoni, 2018;Yong et al, 2018).…”