OBJECTIVETo know about the status of self-rated health and life style among 5 kinds of occupational populations in 6 provinces in China and to explore the influencing factors related with health of the occupational population.

METHODSFrom May to August 2009, a total of 13 492 persons aged 18 - 60 years including civil servants, scientific and technical personnel, administrative staff, teachers and physical workers were selected by multi-stage stratified sampling from Beijing city, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Hubei and Qinghai provinces to undergo surveys on the Lifestyle of Occupational Population in Urban in China and Self-rated Health Measurement Scale Version 1.0 (SRHMS V1.0). The effects of lifestyles on health scores were analyzed by logistic linear regression.

RESULTSOverall, 13 073 valid questionnaires of the Lifestyle of Occupational Population in Urban in China and 13 177 valid questionnaires of SRHMS V1.0 were collected. The valid rate was 96.9% and 97.7% respectively. Among the respondents, 46.9% (6136/13073) ate timely in a day, 50.9% (6658/13 073) ate breakfast every day, 27.8% (3635/13 073) worked over 8 hours per day, 31.0% (4057/13 073) didn't do any exercises, 14.6% (1906/13073) sat for over 4 hours in spare time, 39.3% (5137/13 073) were drinking and 24.8% (3230/13 073) were current smokers. The average score of SRHMS of all respondents was 73.34 +/- 11.86, of which the civil servant had the highest score (74.83 +/- 11.89) while the teacher had the lowest score (71.65 +/- 11.44, P < 0.05). The results of multiple linear regression showed that females (b = -0.945, b' = -0.041), the elderly (b = -0.098, b' = -0.087), teachers (b = - 2.151, b' = -0.074), the divorced (b = -1.607, b' = -0.021), the widowed (b = -2.926, b' = -0.019), and smokers (b = -1.198, b' = -0.045) were with worse condition. Respondents with higher education (b = 0.588, b' = 0.037), eating timely (b = 2.301, b' = 0.141), eating breakfast every day (b = 1.503, b' = 0.096), paying more attention on diet (b = 0.499, b' = 0.021) and doing more exercises (b = 1.820, b' = 0.058) had better condition.

CONCLUSIONEating irregularly, working long hours, lack of exercise, sitting for long hours, smoking and drinking were common among occupational population. The self-rated physical health status was associated with gender, age, education level, occupation, diet and exercise.