Fukushima Noritoshi, Amagasa Shiho, Kikuchi Hiroyuki, Ono Rei, Inoue Shigeru
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
Graduate School of Public Health, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
J Phys Act Health. 2025 May 13;22(7):827-836. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2024-0702. Print 2025 Jul 1.
Accumulating more steps/day provides considerable health benefits; however, studies of steps/day trends among a working population are quite limited. Moreover, steps/day trends may differ among occupations. We aimed to assess changes in steps/day by occupations in the Japanese working population.
Workers aged 20-65 years were identified from the Japanese National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 2001 and 2019. Steps/day were assessed using a pedometer. Occupations with or without income were categorized as professionals, managers, and clerks; sales workers, service workers, protective service workers, and agricultural/forestry/fishery workers; transport/machine operators; manufacturing/construction/cleaning laborers; homemakers; and unemployed individuals. Steps/day per decade were compiled for 2001-2010 and 2011-2019, and differences in age-adjusted steps/day between 2001-2010 and 2011-2019 were evaluated by an analysis of covariance.
A total of 105,492 workers among occupational categories were analyzed. Changes in age-adjusted steps/day (95% CI) per decade among occupations with income ranged from -873 (-1426 to -321) to 352 (-19 to 722) while those for homemakers and the unemployed ranged from -766 (-875 to -677) to -659 (-890 to -429). Only transport/machine operators did not reduce their steps/day (Δ = 352 [-19 to 722]); all other occupations significantly decreased their steps/day. Among occupations with income, the largest decrease was observed in protective service workers, followed by clerks. Moreover, clerks remained the occupational group with the lowest amount of steps/day in both periods.
Most included occupations reduced their steps/day, and the degree of change varied widely among occupations. Further promotion of steps/day is warranted, especially for clerks.
