Bill of health: Not in bad shape but has many anxieties

Chinese workers are crying out for more information on how they can live healthy lives, and for their employers to give them practical help to achieve that goal, but the necessary resources are not being provided, a survey suggests.

Details of the 2016 Corporate Health Benefit and Employee Health Management Survey were published in Beijing last month.

The survey was conducted by the Shanghai Pilot Health Promotion Center, an affiliate of the US non-profit organization CEO Roundtable on Cancer.

Nearly 13,000 employees in more than 2,000 companies and public institutions in Shanghai and other cities completed an online survey form in July and August.

More than 75 percent of respondents up to age 30 said they believed their health status was good or excellent, and about 44 percent of those aged 41 to 50 said they believed their health status was bad or worse.

About 78 percent said they had had at least one health checkup last year. Of those who did not have a checkup about half had failed to avail themselves of the opportunity to do so and the rest had not had the opportunity to do so.

About 52 percent had health checkups arranged by their employers, and 38 percent said they paid for the health checkups themselves.

About 28 percent said they had taken no sick leave last year, and more than 30 percent said they had had more than five days' sick leave.

Physical woes

The survey listed 12 common ailments commonly complained of, including insomnia, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes and only 34 percent of the respondents said they did not suffer from any of the 12. About 36 percent said they had at least two diseases on the list, and about 12 percent had three diseases or more.

Sleep problems, high blood pressure, cervical spondylosis and hyperlipidemia were the most common ailments among employees.

Most of the respondents said they failed to engage in the level of physical activities that the World Health Organization recommends for promoting health. Among females under 30 years old, 69 percent said they failed to meet the WHO standard.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they had felt depressed in the previous two weeks. About 80 percent said they could manage pressure, and 31 percent said they could not get strong support from family or friends if they were faced with pressure.

About 16 percent said they slept less than six hours a night. About one-third said they used tobacco, and about 10 percent said they had problems with alcohol.

About 89 percent said they had access to fresh vegetables and fruit every day.

Online aid

The most common channel that respondents listed for acquiring knowledge about healthy living was the internet. Nine percent said they would call health hotlines for advice.

The survey also pointed to the demand for quality education about healthy living.

About 49 percent said they hoped to get training on nutrition and healthy eating, and about 40 percent wanted direction on physical activities and pressure management.

Twenty-nine percent said they wanted to know more about cervical spondylosis, while fewer than 15 per cent wanted to know more about cancer, blood pressure and diabetes.

The most common health benefits and programs employees wanted employers to provide included exercise training, gyms, breaks for exercise during working hours, and help with giving up or reducing smoking.

As a quality control measure, medical experts helped design the questionnaire, Shanghai Pilot Health Promotion Center said.

About 68 percent of the respondents were from organizations that have more than 100 employees but fewer than 5,000. The others worked for organizations having fewer than 100 employees or more than 5,000.

About 48 percent said they were office workers, 24 percent said they were factory workers, and 15 percent said they were salespeople.

About 72 percent said they were younger than 30. Those giving their age as between 31 and 40 accounted for 23 percent of the respondents, and females accounted for 56 percent. About 71 percent said they had a bachelor's degree or an academic qualification superior to that.