Health check: Although most Hongkongers consider themselves healthy, 40% are overweight.

Although most Hongkongers consider themselves healthy, 40% of the population is overweight, according to the Department of Health's first large-scale survey.

The Population Health Survey, conducted by the department and Hong Kong University in 2003-04, covered 7,084 land-based non-institutional people aged 15 and above, representing 5.68 million people after applying population weights. The response rate was 72%.

Department of Health Community Medicine Consultant Dr Tse Lai-yin said 60% rated their health as 'good' or 'excellent' and 42% felt they had a good quality of life. But 40% could be categorised as overweight or obese.

She urged people to adopt healthy lifestyle because many chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension are associated with behavioural risk factors including a lack of physical activity, smoking and an imbalanced diet.

Colds the most common ailment

Professor Lam Tai-hing of the university's Department of Community Medicine said for acute health problems the three most frequently reported diseases among the interviewees in the month prior to the survey were common colds or upper respiratory infections (35.3%), lower back pain (27.3%) and joint pain (21.3%).

Among the major chronic diseases, hypertension (12.1%), high blood cholesterol (8.4%) and diabetes (3.8%) were mostly found in the respondents. The prevalence of these diseases increased with age and blood pressure checks found that 15% had hypertension.

In terms of mental health status, 2% and 1.5% of people had doctor-diagnosed anxiety disorder and depression.

14.7% daily smokers

A quarter of the interviewees had smoked a cigarette and 14.7% were daily smokers, while 9.5% were regular alcohol consumers, drinking at least once a week. Only 16.3% had five or more servings of fruit or vegetables daily.

The survey found 31.8% were physically inactive. In terms of age, people aged 15-24 and people aged 75 and above had the highest and lowest proportions of people being classified as highly active.

A total of 21.5% of respondents had done something to control weight in the 12 months preceding the survey, with the majority choosing to do exercise and eat less food.

A fifth reported they had regular physical check-ups, with women accounting for 28.1% and men 17.3%. More than half were doing or planning to do something in the month after the survey to promote their health or prevent disease.

For the full report click here.