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Eating habits, health status, and concern about health: a study among 1641 employees in the German metal industry.

BACKGROUND
Nutrition has been found to be associated with sociodemographic characteristics and concern about health. There is limited knowledge, however, of associations between blue-collar worker's diet, morbidity, and health care utilization.


METHODS
We conducted a survey on eating habits, physical symptoms, health care utilization, health status, and concern about health in two German metal companies. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to employees of whom 1641 participated in the study (response rate 54. 7%).


RESULTS
Most employees were characterized by a combination of healthy and unhealthy eating elements. Using linear regression analyses adjusted for age, gender, and occupational status, healthy eating was negatively associated with stomach aches and headaches, but not with cardiovascular disease. Restricted activity days and days in hospital were associated with healthy eating, but self-assessed health status and physician consultations were not. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, age, gender, and concern about health were strongly and morbidity was weakly related to diet. Occupational status, marital status, and number of children were not associated with nutrition.


CONCLUSIONS
Health promotion programs should motivate younger and male employees to participate in and aim toward increasing concern about health.