| Service staff (n = 117) | Kitchen staff (n = 171) | |
| Personal characteristics, mean (SD) | ||
| Age (years) | 35.6 (12.5) | 39.3 (11.0)† |
| Height (cm) | 167.8 (6.3) | 167.1 (6.5) |
| Weight (kg) | 69.7 (10.5) | 71.2 (11.6) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 24.8 (3.5) | 25.5 (3.6) |
| Work experience, mean (SD) | ||
| Working years | 12.2 (11.1) | 15.0 (9.9)* |
| Work days per week | 5.3 (0.4) | 5.4 (0.3)* |
| Work hours per day | 8.5 (1.8) | 9.1 (2.5)* |
| Cooking hours at work per day | 0.0 (0.0) | 4.1 (2.3) |
| Main cooking methods at work, n (%) | ||
| Deep frying | 0 (0.0%) | 97 (56.7%) |
| Stir frying | 0 (0.0%) | 120 (70.2%) |
| Grilling | 0 (0.0%) | 73 (42.7%) |
| Steaming | 0 (0.0%) | 95 (55.36) |
| Stewing | 0 (0.0%) | 95 (55.36) |
| Health behaviour, n (%) or mean (SD) | ||
| Smoking (⩾4 days per week) | 56 (47.9%) | 78 (45.6%) |
| Number of cigarettes smoked per day | 5.5 (SD 7.4) | 6.3 (SD 9.6) |
| Cooking at home (⩾4 days per week) | 8 (6.8%) | 62 (36.3%)‡ |
| Second-hand smoke exposure | 45 (38.5%) | 74 (43.3%) |
| (⩾4 days per week) |
*Kitchen staff differ significantly from service staff at p<0.05 by Student’s t test; †kitchen staff differ significantly from service staff at p<0.01 by Student’s t test; ‡kitchen staff differ significantly from service staff at p<0.001 by χ2 test.