Chinese public officials remain far less healthy than the general population years into a campaign against the banquets-and-booze lifestyles with which they were long associated.
A survey of the medical records of about 300,000 of China’s 10m civil servants found 57 per cent had excessive levels of blood lipids such as cholesterol and more than half were overweight or obese. The comparative figures for the general population were 41 per cent and 25 per cent.
Spinal problems were the most common complaint in the study published this week by iKang, a medical company, affecting about 60 per cent of officials surveyed across five regions. The study pointed to too much desk time, poor diet and lack of exercise as culprits.