Assessment of health of senior executives in a developing country.

In a study of 202 senior executives, aged 25-64 y, in Benin City, Nigeria, the prevalence rate of hypertension was found to be 34.7%. Blood pressures increased with age for both sexes; however, the men had higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure and body mass indices (BMI) than the females. Contributing to this was a high level of inactivity, and diets high in carbohydrate and fat. High-risk social behaviour such as smoking and alcohol consumption was observed. It is recommended that management of the companies concerned put programs into place to assist this group of their workers to maintain a good health status, which will, in turn, improve their productivity.