Polish pharmacists – their eating habits and quality of life

Scientific reports suggest that pharmacists can play an important role, especially through nutritional consultation, in supporting patients in the treatment of chronic diseases. At the same time, it is worth noting that the quality of life of pharmacists may indirectly affect the quality of their services. The aim of our work was to examine nutritional habits and nutrition knowledge as well as the quality of life of Polish pharmacists using validated two questionnaires – KomPAN and SF-36. The form containing both questionnaires was available online and was addressed only to Polish pharmacists with an active licensure. Information about the survey was repeatedly published on the website of the Małopolska Apothecary Chamber and the E-farmacja.pl. More than half (61%) of respondents had a normal value of the body mass index (18.5-24.9 kg/m2), more than half (68%) of the respondents declared their physical activity in their free time as moderate or high. More than 70% of the respondents achieved a nutritional knowledge test result defined as "good" (17-25 points). Polish pharmacists declared more frequent consumption of vegetables, fruit and fish, and less frequent consumption of white bread, fast food, fried foods or sweets compared to the population data. The analysis of the SF-36 questionnaire showed a statistically significant correlation between the age of respondents and their physical and mental quality of life component scores. The analysis also revealed a statistically significant correlation between their body mass index and the physical component score. The results of the KomPAN questionnaire indicate that Polish pharmacists, having a very high level of nutritional knowledge, are a potentially useful source of widely available nutritional information. The results of the SF-36 questionnaire especially highlight the low value of the mental dimension of Polish pharmacists' quality of life, which might result from excessive workload and/or high levels of stress.