Wage earners healthier than self-employed

Wage earners boast better health than those who run their own businesses and women are comparatively healthier than men, statistics showed Monday.

The figures, compiled by the National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC), indicated that a total of 3,954,258 subscribers and those they support underwent medical checkups in 1999 and that 75.5 percent or 2,986,359 of them were found to be in normal health.

By gender, 78 percent of women were found healthy, compared to 74.2 percent of men.

About 5.9 percent of wage earners were found to be suffering from some sort of health complaint, followed by 7.9 percent of self-employed persons, 8.6 percent of dependent family members of officials and teachers, and 9.1 percent of dependent family members of self-employed persons.

By ailment, 352,856 people or 12.78 percent were suspected of having liver diseases. In particular, one in six wage earners or 15.8 percent showed a high possibility that they may be suffering from this type of ailment.

For wage earners and self-employed persons, liver disease was the most common health problem, while the dependent family members of wage earners were most often found to be suffering from high blood pressure.

Chung Seong-Hee shchung@donga.com