Utility of a Physical Fitness Score in Screening for Chronic Diseases

We developed a new Physical Score (PS) consisting of compre-hensive physical fitness indicators and elucidated the association between the resultant PS and metabolic diseases, i.e., diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, and metabolic syndrome (MetS), among Japanese. Analyzed were 49,850 persons (30,039 men) aged 30 to 69 y who underwent physical fitness tests. Prin-cipal component analysis was performed on the correlation ma-trix of the physical fitness test results (relative grip strength, sin-gle-leg balance with eyes closed, and forward bending) according to sex and age. We defined the PS as the first principal component score. A formula was developed for various age groups com-prised of men and women from 30 to 69 years of age from which the PS for each age and sex was calculated. The PS for both men and women was normally distributed with a value of 0 +/- 1.15-1.16. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of metabolic diseases increased approximately 1.1 -1.6 times per each 1-point reduction in the PS. The association between PS and MetS was particularly strong in that a 1-point reduction in the PS increased the risk of MetS by 1.54 times (95% confidence in-terval 1.46 to 1.62) in men and by 1.21 times (1.15 to 1.28) in women. The association between a lower PS and disease risk was stronger in younger men for fatty liver and in older men for MetS. Conversely, in women, the association between a lower PS and disease risk was stronger in older women for fatty liver and in younger women for MetS. For diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, the change in the impact of PS reductions across age groups was small. The PS is a useful and simple non-invasive tool for screening Japanese people for metabolic diseases.

Automated summary

A new Physical Score (PS) was developed and its association with metabolic diseases among Japanese individuals was elucidated. The PS was calculated based on physical fitness indicators and showed a significant association with an increased risk of metabolic diseases, especially metabolic syndrome. The PS was found to be a useful and simple non-invasive tool for screening Japanese people for metabolic diseases.