Civil servants 'feel' good about health: survey

A survey released on June 20 showed that male civil servants have an inflated self-evaluation of their health condition while their health reports show different results.

The self-evaluation included eight areas, such as vitality and mental conditions. It found that male civil servants had a higher self-evaluation than female civil servants in each area. But their health was worse than their female colleagues.

According to the statistics, based on more than 20,000 health reports compiled by the iKang Guobin Healthcare Group, higher disease rates were witnessed in male civil servants. Compared with their female colleagues, more men have problems, such as diabetes, excessive weight, fatty liver and high blood pressure.

The official number of civil servants in China has increased from 6.5 million in 2008 to nearly 6.9 million in 2010. Their health reports show that about one in 10 have at least a health problem.

The number of civil servants in Shanghai with at least a health problem was the highest nationwide. Chengdu's civil servants are the healthiest.

Zhang Ligang, chief executive officer of iKang Guobin, said that the number of people between 20 and 40 suffering from chronic diseases increased in recent years. He added that freelancers are the healthiest, while people working in the software industry had higher risks of getting health problems.

Zhang said that regular health checkups would not only help people to prevent diseases but would also reduce medical costs. He said that, for example, in some Western countries, companies build stairs with music to make employees climb the stairs and get more exercise. He said that the method should be replicated in China.