The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Health risks take a toll on employees

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Thursday, Nov 05, 2009
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Health risks take a toll on employees

Staff Reporter

Stress, no exercise affect wellbeing: survey

— PHOTO: AP

telling signs: Nearly half the respondents did not exercise enough.

Bangalore: A majority of corporate employees in Bangalore fall in the high/medium health risk category with three or more health problems such as blood pressure, stress or high cholesterol. While most employees are diabetic with its attendant risks of cardiac problems, a sizable chunk is also overweight or obese.

These are some of the findings of HealthTrac, a corporate health risk assessment study conducted among 2,106 corporate employees by PeopleHealth, a health management organisation.

The findings of the study — conducted among employees of corporates in the age group of 25 to 55 years — were released on Tuesday. It was aimed at assessing the health of corporate Bangalore through a standard assessment tool to understand their potential health risks and the impact on their productivity and personal welfare.

The survey was conducted during October 2008 to September 2009. While revealing that 37 per cent of the sample size suffered from high blood pressure, stress or high cholesterol, the study indicated that 9 per cent suffered from high cholesterol and 30 per cent showed moderate risk. While 37 per cent showed normal or low risk of developing diabetes and cardiac-related problems, 63 per cent showed high/moderate risk.

An evaluation of their body mass index (BMI) indicated that 32 per cent of the respondents were overweight.

“These findings are worrying, especially at a time when world over it has been proven that poor health of employees has an adverse effect on corporate productivity,” said G. Krishnamurthy, CEO of PeopleHealth.

According to a press release from the organisation, the survey has also revealed that 45 per cent of those surveyed practised low or no physical activities and only 22 per cent exercised regularly.

Happiness quotient

The survey also found that most of the respondents were not leading the happiest of lives.

While 85 per cent suffered from high/moderate levels of stress, more than 61 per cent also felt that their social relationships were weak. “Only 7 per cent of those surveyed confessed to living a happy life,” the release added.

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