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Background: Two population surveys were conducted in Belarus: The Living Conditions, Lifestyle and Health (LLH) in 2001 ( n = 2000) and The Health in Times of Transition (HITT) in 2010 ( n = 1800). Each survey included a question on health status. The LLH questionnaire provided a 4-point Verbal Response Scale, but the HITT questionnaire used a 5-point scale. When translated into Russian, only two response categories of these scales had identical wording. These differences made a direct comparison of self-reported health status between 2001 and 2010 difficult. Methods: We conducted a Health Category Response Scale (HCRS) survey in 2010 ( n = 570) using a 100ths graduated Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to understand how the response categories of different scales are perceived by Russian speakers. We implemented the HCRS survey’s data to calculate the weighted health status (WHS) for each of the original surveys and to compare health status in Belarus between 2001and 2010. Results: The WHS in Belarus showed a small, but statistically significant, improvement of 2.9 points on a 0–100 scale between 2001 and 2010 (56.2 vs. 59.1). Identical response categories were perceived differently on a 4-point and 5-point VAS. The category ‘good’ (‘Хорошее’) measured ∼12 points higher, and the category ‘bad/poor’ (‘Плохое’) measured ∼16 points lower, on the 4-point compared with the 5-point VAS. Conclusion: Our HCRS survey and novel method enabled a direct comparison of questions with different response options. When applied to the LLH and HITT projects, we concluded that health status in Belarus has improved between 2001 and 2010.

Background Men's lifestyles are generally less healthy than women's. This study identifies associations between health-related behaviour in different groups of men working in a Higher Education (HE) institution. In addition, men were asked whether they regarded their health-related behaviours as a concern. This article highlights smoking, consumption of alcohol and physical activity as most common men's health-related lifestyle behaviours. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among all male staff employed by a Higher Education institute in Scotland using a postal self-completed questionnaire. A total of 1,335 questionnaires were distributed and 501 were returned completed (38% return rate). The data were analysed using SPSS 13.0 for Windows. Results Less than 10% currently smoked and almost 44% of these smokers were light smokers. Marital status, job title, consumption of alcohol and physical activity level were the major factors associated with smoking behaviour. Men in manual jobs were far more likely to smoke. Nearly all (90%) consumed alcohol, and almost 37% had more than recommended eight units of alcohol per day at least once a week and 16% had more than 21 units weekly. Younger men reported higher amount of units of alcohol on their heaviest day and per week. Approximately 80% were physically active, but less than 40% met the current Government guidelines for moderate physical activity. Most men wanted to increase their activity level. Conclusion There are areas of health-related behaviour, which should be addressed in populations of this kind. Needs assessment could indicate which public health interventions would be most appropriately aimed at this target group. However, the low response rate calls for some caution in interpreting our findings.