The distribution of cardiovascular risk factors in employees from small- and medium-sized enterprises in Germany

Abstract

The German Prevention Act, the main parts of which came into force on 25July 2015, encourages health promotion and prevention programs for people in their living environment. Through this act, preventive measures could reach employees at work that hardly seek medical services. This is of importance since employees with alow occupational position often show risk factors that increase morbidity and mortality. In this study, clinical data from n= 2280 employees from small and medium sized enterprises (SME) were analyzed for economic sector, sex, socioeconomic position (SEP), economic sector cardiovascular risk factors, musculoskeletal and psychological diseases. The socioeconomic position was categorized using the European Socioeconomic Classification into an intermediate/high and alow SEP category. Male employees showed asignificantly higher occurrence of risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes or hypertension in comparison to female employees. In the manufacturing industry, male employees with alow SEP showed ahigher prevalence of diabetes (2.3 vs. 5.9%), smoking (27.4 vs. 46.5%), and physical inactivity (sports: 55.0 vs. 37.1%) in comparison to employees with an intermediate/high SEP. Male employees with alow SEP from health and social services reported psychiatric disorders more frequently in comparison to those with an intermediate/high SEP (0.7 vs. 5.9%). Male employees with alow SEP should be given special consideration in the implementation of preventive measures at work within the framework of the Prevention Act.