OBJECTIVETo learn the status quo of lifestyle among women of five occupations in six provinces of China.

METHODSA questionnaire was administered among 7416 women from five occupations (civil servants, teachers of elementary and high schools, technical staff, enterprise managers and physical laborers) in Beijing, Hebei, Jilin, Hubei, Ningxia and Gansu of China. The sample was selected by multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method from December 2009 to June 2010. The questionnaire information included demographic characteristics, diet, sleep habit, smoking, physical exercise. The χ(2) test was used to analyze the different in life style of different occupations.

RESULTSThere were 7416 valid questionnaires received, and the valid rate of the questionnaires was 97.58% (7416/7682). About 38.00% (2818/7416) respondents preferred to bland diet and 28.44% (2109/7416) preferred to salty and oily food and 33.56% (2489/7416) had no preference. The proportion of sleep time between seven and eight hours per day was highest (accounting for 56.23%, 4154/7416), 25.27% (1867/7416) with sleep time less than seven hours. Among the population who had the sleep time less seven hours, teacher that had the highest rate accounted for 33.19% (531/1607) and technical staff had the lowest rate accounted for 21.05% (301/1401) (P < 0.01). Most of respondents were non-smokers, accounting for 93.10% (6869/7416). 22.73% (1671/7416) respondents passively smoked. The proportion of always passive smoking was highest among civil servants and lowest among teachers, accounting for 26.60% (404/1531) and 18.71% (298/1607), respectively. The proportion of having no physical exercises was highest, accounting for 62.87% (4637/7416). The proportion of having three times physical exercises per week was 12.68% (935/7416). The proportion of having no physical exercises among physical laborers (66.42%, 912/1386), enterprise managers (66.64%, 987/1491) and teachers (62.40%, 999/1607) were higher than others and the proportion of having physical exercises per week among technical staff was 40.83% (569/1401), higher than others (P < 0.01). The proportion of person who worked in sitting quietly beyond six hours per day was 42.62% (3146/7416). The technical staff had the higher rate than other occupational populations (P < 0.01), accounting for 57.83% (809/1401).

CONCLUSIONThe female occupational population had some unhealthy lifestyles, such as taking in high salt food, lacking of sleep, smoking and passive smoking, lacking of physical exercises and working in sitting quietly. Different occupational populations had different unhealthy lifestyles.