SLOVAKIA’S legislators are troubled by health problems such as obesity, high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol, according to medical tests performed on 87 out of 150 MPs in December 2006.
Of the MPs who took the tests, 64 were men and 23 women.
No risk factors were found in only 12 cases, 13.8 percent of the MPs tested. One to six health risks were discovered in the rest.
The tests confirmed that the number of risk factors increases with age.
Metabolic problems troubled 22 MPs (25.3 percent), while increased cholesterol levels were found in 34 cases (43.6 percent). Smokers were in the worst health.
Nurses also discovered high blood pressure in 51 MPs, although only 39 are being treated for it. The remaining MPs did not know they suffered from this problem.
As many as 66.6 percent of MPs who undertook the tests have problems with their weight. Of those, 47.1 percent are overweight and 19.5 are obese.