Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Impacts of lifestyle behavior and shift work on visceral fat accumulation and the presence of atherosclerosis in middle-aged male workers

Abstract

Work style, and particularly shift work, can affect an individual’s circadian rhythms. Moreover, lifestyle habits, including dietary and exercise routines, might be altered by irregular shift hours. The present study investigated how lifestyle and shift work affect the accumulation of visceral fat and the presence of atherosclerosis in middle-aged male workers. This study enrolled employees undergoing their periodic health check-up (n = 10,073). Visceral fat area (VFA) was evaluated by computed tomography. Atherosclerosis was assessed by the cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), and carotid plaque. Lifestyle was evaluated by the following items: (1) eating breakfast, (2) nighttime eating, (3) regular exercise, (4) habitual drinking, (5) habitual smoking, (6) sleeping hours, and (7) working hours. Shift workers were defined as employees who were not engaged in fixed daytime work. The VFA and CAVI were significantly greater in fixed daytime workers than in shift workers, while the carotid IMT was lower in fixed daytime workers than in shift workers. Reduced regular exercise and fixed daytime work were independently associated with visceral fat accumulation by both multivariate regression and logistic regression analyses. Habitual smoking was independently associated with an increased CAVI and carotid atherosclerosis in both multivariate regression and logistic regression analyses. Reduced regular exercise and fixed daytime work were significantly associated with visceral fat accumulation, while habitual smoking had a consistent association with the presence of atherosclerosis. These findings support the idea that unhealthy lifestyles should be modified before considering an intervention in work style.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fox CS, Massaro JM, Hoffmann U, Pou KM, Maurovich-Horvat P, Liu CY, et al. Abdominal visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue compartments: association with metabolic risk factors in the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 2007;116:39–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Oka R, Yagi K, Sakurai M, Nakamura K, Nagasawa SY, Miyamoto S, et al. Impact of visceral adipose tissue and subcutaneous adipose tissue on insulin resistance in middle-aged Japanese. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2012;19:814–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Grundy SM. Pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular risk. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012;59:635–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Tchernof A, Després JP. Pathophysiology of human visceral obesity: an update. Physiol Rev. 2013;93:359–404.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. González N, Moreno-Villegas Z, González-Bris A, Egido J, Lorenzo Ó. Regulation of visceral and epicardial adipose tissue for preventing cardiovascular injuries associated to obesity and diabetes. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2017;16:44.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ormazabal V, Nair S, Elfeky O, Aguayo C, Salomon C, Zuñiga FA. Association between insulin resistance and the development of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2018;17:122.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Rhee TM, Kim HL, Lim WH, Seo JB, Kim SH, Zo JH, et al. Association between epicardial adipose tissue thickness and parameters of target organ damage in patients undergoing coronary angiography. Hypertens Res. 2019;42:549–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Okada T, Imano H, Nakamura M, Ishikawa Y, Kurokawa M, Sasaki S, et al. The joint impact on being overweight of self reported behaviours of eating quickly and eating until full: cross sectional survey. BMJ. 2008;337:a2002.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Hsieh SD, Muto T, Murase T, Tsuji H, Arase Y. Eating until feeling full and rapid eating both increase metabolic risk factors in Japanese men and women. Public Health Nutr. 2011;14:1266–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Sanada H, Yokokawa H, Yatabe J, Williams SM, Felder RA, Jose PA, et al. Association between lifestyle-related disorders and visceral fat mass in Japanese males: a hospital based cross-sectional study. Environ Health Prev Med. 2014;19:429–35.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Bergman RN, Kim SP, Hsu IR, Catalano KJ, Chiu JD, Kabir M, et al. Abdominal obesity: role in the pathophysiology of metabolic disease and cardiovascular risk. Am J Med. 2007;120:S3–S8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Després JP, Lemieux I, Bergeron J, Pibarot P, Mathieu P, Larose E, et al. Abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome: contribution to global cardiometabolic risk. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2008;28:1039–49.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Committee to Evaluate Diagnostic Standards for Metabolic Syndrome. Definition and the diagnostic standard for metabolic syndrome–Committee to Evaluate Diagnostic Standards for Metabolic Syndrome. Nihon Naika Gakkai Zasshi. 2005;94:794–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Alberti KG, Eckel RH, Grundy SM, Zimmet PZ, Cleeman JI, Donato KA. International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention; Hational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association; World Heart Federation; International Atherosclerosis Society; International Association for the Study of Obesity. et al. Harmonizing the metabolic syndrome: a joint interim statement of the International Diabetes Federation Task Force on Epidemiology and Prevention; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; American Heart Association; World Heart Federation; International Atherosclerosis Society; and International Association for the Study of Obesity. Circulation. 2009;120:1640–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ford ES, Giles WH, Dietz WH. Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among US adults: findings from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. JAMA. 2002;287:356–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Grundy SM, Cleeman JI, Daniels SR, Donato KA, Eckel RH, Franklin BA. American Heart Association; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. et al. Diagnosis and management of the metabolic syndrome: an American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Scientific Statement. Circulation. 2005;112:2735–52.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Moore JX, Chaudhary N, Akinyemiju T. Metabolic syndrome prevalence by race/ethnicity and sex in the United States, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–2012. Prev Chronic Dis. 2017;14:E24.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Noda H, Iso H, Saito I, Konishi M, Inoue M, Tsugane S, JPHC Study Group. The impact of the metabolic syndrome and its components on the incidence of ischemic heart disease and stroke: the Japan public health center-based study. Hypertens Res. 2009;32:289–98.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Yamamoto A, Temba H, Horibe H, Mabuchi H, Saito Y, Matsuzawa Y. Research Group on Serum Lipid Survey 1990 in Japan. et al. Life style and cardiovascular risk factors in the Japanese population–from an epidemiological survey on serum lipid levels in Japan 1990 part 1: influence of life style and excess body weight on HDL-cholesterol and other lipid parameters in men. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2003;10:165–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Uzhova I, Fuster V, Fernández-Ortiz A, Ordovás JM, Sanz J, Fernández-Friera L, et al. The Importance of Breakfast in Atherosclerosis Disease: Insights From the PESA Study. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017;70:1833–42.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. St-Onge MP, Ard J, Baskin ML, Chiuve SE, Johnson HM, Kris-Etherton P. Council on Clinical Cardiology; and Stroke Council. Meal Timing and Frequency et al. Implications for cardiovascular disease prevention: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2017;135:e96–e121.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Horikawa C, Kodama S, Yachi Y, Heianza Y, Hirasawa R, Ibe Y, et al. Skipping breakfast and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Asian and Pacific regions: a meta-analysis. Prev Med. 2011;53:260–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Yoshida J, Eguchi E, Nagaoka K, Ito T, Ogino K. Association of night eating habits with metabolic syndrome and its components: a longitudinal study. BMC Public Health. 2018;18:1366.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Wakabayashi I. Frequency of heavy alcohol drinking and risk of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged men. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2014;38:1689–96.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Traversy G, Chaput JP. Alcohol consumption and obesity: an update. Curr Obes Rep. 2015;4:122–30.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Ye HH, Jeong JU, Jeon MJ, Sakong J. The association between shift work and the metabolic syndrome in female workers. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2013;25:33.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Souza BB, Monteze NM, de Oliveira FL, de Oliveira JM, de Freitas Nascimento S, Marques do Nascimento Neto R, et al. Lifetime shift work exposure: association with anthropometry, body composition, blood pressure, glucose and heart rate variability. Occup Environ Med. 2015;72:208–15.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Ramin C, Devore EE, Wang W, Pierre-Paul J, Wegrzyn LR, Schernhammer ES. Night shift work at specific age ranges and chronic disease risk factors. Occup Environ Med. 2015;72:100–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Shimamoto K, Ando K, Fujita T, Hasebe N, Higaki J, Horiuchi M, et al. The Japanese Society of Hypertension Guidelines for the Management of Hypertension (JSH 2014). Hypertens Res. 2014;37:253–392.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Teramoto T, Sasaki J, Ueshima H, Egusa G, Kinoshita M, Shimamoto K. Japan Atherosclerosis Society (JAS) Committee for Epidemiology and Clinical Management of Atherosclerosis et al. Diagnostic criteria for dyslipidemia. Executive summary of Japan Atherosclerosis Society (JAS) guideline for diagnosis and prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases for Japanese. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2007;14:155–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Committee of the Japan Diabetes Society on the Diagnostic Criteria of Diabetes Mellitus, Seino Y, Nanjo K, Tajima N, Kadowaki T, Kashiwagi A, Araki E, et al. Report of the committee on the classification and diagnostic criteria of diabetes mellitus. J Diabetes Investig. 2010;1:212–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Suwa M, Imoto T, Kida A, Yokochi T, Iwase M, Kozawa K. Association of body flexibility and carotid atherosclerosis in Japanese middle-aged men: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2018;8:e019370.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Shirai K, Utino J, Otsuka K, Takata M. A novel blood pressure-independent arterial wall stiffness parameter; cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI). J Atheroscler Thromb. 2006;13:101–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Stein JH, Korcarz CE, Hurst RT, Lonn E, Kendall CB, Mohler ER, et al. American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force. Use of carotid ultrasound to identify subclinical vascular disease and evaluate cardiovascular disease risk: a consensus statement from the American Society of Echocardiography Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Task Force. Endorsed by the Society for Vascular Medicine. J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2008;21:93–111.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Terminology and Diagnostic Criteria Committee, Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine. Standard method for ultrasound evaluation of carotid artery lesions. J Med Ultrason. 2009;36:219–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Standardized health checkup and intervention program. 2007. http://www.mhlw.go.jp/bunya/kenkou/seikatsu/pdf/02.pdf. (accessed 8 January, 2019) (in Japanese).

  37. St-Onge MP, Grandner MA, Brown D, Conroy MB, Jean-Louis G, Coons M. American Heart Association Obesity, Behavior Change, Diabetes, and Nutrition Committees of the Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health; Council on Cardiovascular Disease in the Young; Council on Clinical Cardiology; and Stroke Council. et al. Sleep duration and quality: impact on lifestyle behaviors and cardiometabolic health: a scientific statement from the american heart association. Circulation. 2016;134:e367–e386.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Yin J, Jin X, Shan Z, Li S, Huang H, Li P, et al. Relationship of sleep duration with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017;6:e005947.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Tan X, Chapman CD, Cedernaes J, Benedict C. Association between long sleep duration and increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: a review of possible mechanisms. Sleep Med Rev. 2018;40:127–34.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Clark BK, Kolbe-Alexander TL, Duncan MJ, Brown W. Sitting time, physical activity and sleep by work type and pattern-The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14:E290.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Roskoden FC, Krüger J, Vogt LJ, Gärtner S, Hannich HJ, Steveling A, et al. Physical activity, energy expenditure, nutritional habits, quality of sleep and stress levels in shift-working health care personnel. PLoS ONE. 2017;12:e0169983.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Kim J, Tanabe K, Yoshizawa Y, Yokoyama N, Suga Y, Kuno S. Lifestyle-based physical activity intervention for one year improves metabolic syndrome in overweight male employees. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2013;229:11–17.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Okauchi Y, Iwahashi H, Okita K, Funahashi T, Kishida K, Noguchi M, et al. Lifestyle intervention involving calorie restriction with or without aerobic exercise training improves liver fat in adults with visceral adiposity. J Obes. 2014;2014:197216.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Ide K, Takeuchi M, Seki T, Kawakami K. Effect of regular exercise and functional beverages on changes in body weight and waist circumference in healthy Japanese subjects. Medicina. 2018;54:E64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Qureshi G, Brown R, Salciccioli L, Qureshi M, Rizvi S, Farhan S, et al. Relationship between aortic atherosclerosis and non-invasive measures of arterial stiffness. Atherosclerosis. 2007;195:e190–4.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Sugiura T, Dohi Y, Takase H, Yamashita S, Fujii S, Ohte N. Oxidative stress is closely associated with increased arterial stiffness, especially in aged male smokers without previous cardiovascular events: a cross-sectional study. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2017;24:1186–98.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Nezu T, Hosomi N, Aoki S, Matsumoto M. Carotid intima-media thickness for atherosclerosis. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2016;23:18–31.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Takase H, Sugiura T, Murai S, Yamashita S, Ohte N, Dohi Y. Carotid intima-media thickness is a novel predictor of new onset of hypertension in normotensive subjects. Medicine. 2017;96:e7710.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomonori Sugiura.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sugiura, T., Dohi, Y., Takagi, Y. et al. Impacts of lifestyle behavior and shift work on visceral fat accumulation and the presence of atherosclerosis in middle-aged male workers. Hypertens Res 43, 235–245 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-019-0362-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-019-0362-z

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links