Kazuo Hashizume

Factors Affecting the Estimated Maximal Oxygen Uptake: a Follow-Up Study of Participants in the Total Health Promotion Plan

ObjectivesTo elucidate the effects of risk factors for arteriosclerosis on estimated VO2 max and obtain useful information to advise enterprise employees.SubjectsOne hundred and nineteen male and 87 female enterprise employees underwent exercise tests for health evaluation in the Total Health Promotion Plan at the Fukui Occupational Health Center between April 1990 and March 1993.MethodsMultiple regression analysis was performed using estimated VO2 max as the dependent variable, and percent body fat, blood pressure, blood tests, habitual physical activity, number of cigarettes smoked and alcohol consumption as independent variables in the first and second year, and for yearly changes in these variables.ResultsThe significant variables selected were as follows: in the first year, systolic blood pressure and percent body fat in males, and age in females; in the second year, diastolic blood pressure and habitual physical activity in males and systolic blood pressure in females; for yearly changes in each variable, cigarettes in males and percent body fat in females were selected.ConclusionIt was suggested that guidance to reduce cigarettes in males, and to keep a proper percent body fat in females would be effective in maintaining the estimated VO2 max

Effects of cigarette smoking on endurance performance levels of 16- to 19-year-old males.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of cigarette smoking on the levels of endurance performance in teenagers. Longitudinal data of physical characteristics, smoking habits, exercise habits, and time records in both 1500-meter run and 10-kilometer run of 202 sixteen-to-nineteen-year-old male students were retrieved and analyzed retrospectively. The results showed that the performance levels of exercise-neversmokers in the 1500-meter run did improve as the subjects grew older, and that over the same period, the exercise-smokers did not improve but were able only to maintain their performance levels. The results of two way analysis of variance(ANOVA) indicated that smoking negatively and independently impacts how eighteen and nineteen-year-olds will perform in a 10-kilometer run. The reduced levels of endurance performance in the non-exercise smokers showed up in their results in the 10-kilometer run, and the diminished performance levels of the exercise-smokers were revealed in their 1500-meter run times. These results suggest that smokers obtain less benefits from training than non-smokers, and that we need to assess endurance performance levels among the young by paying careful attention to their smoking habits.

Smoking Conditions and the Relationships Between Smoking Habits and Such Factors as Exercise Habits and Morning Diet among Male Students Aged 16 to 20 Years

This article explores the smoking behavior of 307 sixteen- to twenty-year-old students, and examines the relationships between their smoking and such factors as weight, exercise or morning diets. Four-year follow-up data on their physical characteristics, exercise and morning diet, and a five-year retrospective questionnaire on smoking habits were analyzed. Our longitudinal analysis revealed that: the prevalence of smoking increased from 17.6% to 54.1%, while the semi-annual incidence of smoking decreased from 12.0% to 4.3%. The number of cigarettes smoked per day increased for 3 years after the initiation of smoking, from less than 10 cigarettes per day in the first year to more than 15 in the third year. Although there was no relationship between smoking and exercise habits, smoking habits related significantly to morning diet. In the eighteen- and nineteen-year-old age category, smoking habits affected the weight of the subjects.