The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Health and the city

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 26, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Health and the city

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: One always knew that the frenzied lifestyle of corporate Bangalore would eventually have its toll on health. And here you have the evidence – except that it is far more frightening than you would have imagined: a health risk assessment study conducted in IT/ ITeS companies in the city by PeopleHealth, a health services organisation, has revealed that 55 per cent of employees have a moderate risk of suffering from cardiac problems and diabetes. And as many as 35 per cent of the city’s corporate employees carry the risk of having at least one of the following health problems: hypertension, diabetes or cardiac problems.

The survey covered 4,000 employees in IT/ITeS companies, between the ages 24 to 50 years, with the aim to understand potential health risks and to get people to adopt preventive healthcare measures.

Alarming

The alarming revelations do not end there. According to the survey, 37 per cent of the respondents suffered from moderate levels of hypertension; 31 per cent had abnormal cholesterol and 35 per cent were prone to cardiac disease and diabetes. A fourth of the people surveyed suffered from one to three health risks, and 10 per cent were prone to have more than three health risks.

These include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, inactivity, high BMI, high stress, smoking, poor perception of health, poor life satisfaction, alcohol abuse and other major medical problems. Adding to these issues are factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, poor sleeping, long travel, mode of travel and job shifts patterns. Interestingly, only eight per cent of the respondents said that they were satisfied with their lives.

There is also the inevitable economic fallout, the organisation points out: they estimate the average loss of productivity owing to health problems to be around two hours and 38 minutes per person per week, thus causing substantial economic loss to their company.

“Most corporates refer only to the ‘financial health’ of a company when they talk of corporate health. If the health of employees who chart a company’s success is bordering on high-risk, it will directly impact financial health,” says Krishnamurthy, CEO, PeopleHealth.

What is worse, Mr. Krishnamurthy says, he fears that the situation would be similar in most other metros in India. “This calls for strong affirmative action, which ensures overall wellbeing of employees,” he adds.

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