Baseline characteristics of workers at ten New York City employers recruited for a private-public research collaborative.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a public-private collaborative and present results from the administration of a baseline health risk assessment (HRA).


METHODS
A custom-designed HRA was made available to 31,535 New York workers, and 5539 (17.6%) completed the survey. Data from the HRA were used to present a business case to employers urging them to support health promotion efforts at their worksites.


RESULTS
Of these, 78.5% of workers in the sample reported poor eating habits, 39.9% were sedentary, and 62.2% were overweight, obese, or extremely obese; 30.4% had high or borderline-high total cholesterol levels, 24.9% reported high or borderline high blood pressure, and 16.8% reported high or borderline high blood glucose levels; tobacco use rates were relatively low (14.0%).


CONCLUSIONS
Results represent a baseline against which future data for the study cohort will be compared to evaluate the health and financial impacts of engaging employees in workplace health promotion programs.
Goetzel
Ron Z
RZ
Institute for Health and Productivity Studies, Emory University, Washington 20008, DC, USA. ron.goetzel@thomson.com
Luisi
Daria
D
Ozminkowski
Ronald J
RJ
Roemer
Enid Chung
EC
Taher
Sabira
S
D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009111:Local Government; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D018579:Patient Selection; D017149:Private Sector; D011635:Public Health Administration; D017150:Public Sector; D035842:Research Subjects / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*