Comparison of respondents and nonrespondents to a worksite health screen

As part of an evaluation of the voluntary health promotion program offered by Johnson & Johnson to its employees, comparisons were made between nonrespondents and respondents (75% of all employees) in the baseline health screen. A survey of randomly selected nonrespondents was conducted in 1979-1980 to collect health and life-style information. Comparisons between respondents and nonrespondents on a multitude of characteristics indicated that the nonrespondents reported life-styles as healthful as those of the respondents with the exception that significantly more nonrespondents reported ever having smoked cigarettes and significantly more female nonrespondents currently smoke. These results suggest that the systematic biases found among nonrespondents in general population health surveys do not exist among this more homogeneous employed population and imply that the participants in the program provide a good estimate of the health status and life-style of the entire workforce.