Physical and mental health of construction workers : a worse status?

Abstract

A physical and mental health profile of construction workers is lacking in Hong Kong. This paper aims to compare the behavioural risk factors, biomedical risk factors and self-rated health status between construction workers and the general population. A basic medical examination and a questionnaire survey were administered at 117 construction sites December 2017 to March 2019. A total of 2,396 Chinese workers were included for analysis. The data of the general population were derived from the published papers and reports. The results showed that construction workers consumed less alcoholic beverages and more fruit-vegetable than the general population but had heavier smoking and consumed less milk products. Although construction workers tended to have less working hours per day than the general population, they had less rest days per month. In general, objective and subjective physical health of construction workers was worse than the general population. But female workers had better self-rated mental health. Gender-specific health programmes should be developed in future.