Fitness of professionals and skilled workers in Poland.

ABSTRACT

Simple measures of the biological fitness of adult men aged 25-65 years, inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, were studied in two well-defined social groups professionals and skilled workers. It was found that the manual workers, compared to professionals, have higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lower relative vital capacity, inferior flexibility of spine, poorer eye-hand co-ordination, and poorer hearing acuity. These social differences appear consistently at each age level between 25 and 65 years and tend to increase with age to the disadvantage of skilled workers.