The impact of overseas assignments on metabolic factors: Panasonic cohort study 23
2024

Impact of Overseas Assignments on Metabolic Factors in Japanese Employees

Sample size: 1798 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Murano Tetsuya, Okada Hiroshi, Hamaguchi Masahide, Kurogi Kazushiro, Tatsumi Yoshihide, Murata Hiroaki, Yoshida Naoki, Ito Masato, Fukui Michiaki

Primary Institution: Panasonic Health Insurance Organization

Hypothesis

Overseas assignments would worsen metabolic factors associated with lifestyle disease including BMI, blood pressure, plasma glucose, lipid profiles, liver enzyme, and uric acid.

Conclusion

No significant difference was observed in metabolic factors associated with lifestyle disease between the overseas and non-overseas assignment groups in Japanese employees.

Supporting Evidence

  • 65.4% of individuals in the overseas assignment group were assigned alone.
  • The average duration of overseas assignments was 4.1 years.
  • Significant differences in metabolic factors were observed at baseline and follow-up within both groups.

Takeaway

This study found that going overseas for work didn't change health factors like weight or blood pressure for Japanese employees.

Methodology

A retrospective cohort study using health examination data from Panasonic employees, comparing metabolic factors between overseas and non-overseas assignment groups.

Potential Biases

Potential bias due to lack of data on socioeconomic status and therapeutic interventions.

Limitations

The study did not account for socioeconomic status, therapeutic interventions during assignments, and only included Japanese participants.

Participant Demographics

Participants were predominantly male (98.6%) with a median age of 46 years.

Statistical Information

Statistical Significance

p<0.05

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1093/joccuh/uiae071

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