FITNESS OF PROFESSIONALS AND SKILLED WORKERS IN POLAND

Simple measures of the biological fitness of adult men aged 25-65 year s, inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, were studied in two wel l-defined social groups: professionals and skilled workers. It was fou nd that the manual workers, compared to professionals, have higher sys tolic and diastolic blood pressure, lower relative vital capacity, inf erior flexibility of spine, poorer eye-hand co-ordination, and poorer hearing acuity. These social differences appear consistently at each a ge level between 25 and 65 years and tend to increase with age to the disadvantage of skilled workers.