Relationship of frequency of participation in a physical checkup and physical fitness in middle-aged and elderly people: the Yakumo study

Abstract

An annual physical checkup is provided as part of the long-term Yakumo study. The checkup is voluntary and there is variation in the frequency of participation. The aim of this study was to examine relationship of physical fitness with frequency of participation in this checkup. The subjects had all attended at least one annual physical checkup from 2006 to 2018. Data from 1,804 initial checkups were used for analysis. At the checkups, age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and bone mineral density (BMD) were recorded, and physical activity was measured. The average number of physical checkups per participant for 13 years was 2.4 (1-13). Daily exercise habits were found to be significantly associated with higher participation in physical checkups. Furthermore, between groups with low (1-5 times; <90th percentile of participants) and high (≥6 times) participation, weight and BMI were significantly higher, and BMD, grip strength, 10-m gait time, back muscle strength, and two-step test were all significantly lower in the group with lower frequency of participation in the checkup. In conclusions, our results show that frequency of participation in a voluntary annual physical checkup is significantly associated with physical fitness in middle-aged and elderly people.

Keywords: Yakumo study; annual physical checkup; frequency of participation; middle-aged and elderly people; physical performance.

Fig. 1

Trends of physical checkups and average age Number of physical checkups by gender (bar graph) and average age of participants (line graph). A total of 4,349 physical checkups were performed.

Fig. 2

Trends of number of physical checkups Number of participants per physical checkups. Participants were categorized as having low (1–5 times, <90th percentile of participants) or high (≥6 times, ≥90th percentile) participation in physical checkups.

Fig. 3

Relationship between exercise habit and participation in physical checkups There was a significantly higher percentage of Ex(+) subjects with a high number of physical checkups (≥6 times) (p<0.01).