Bangalore city, increasingly being known for its stressful and hectic urban lifestyle, gets unsatisfactory rating on the 'health quotient' index brought out by Tata AIG Life Insurance Company.

Revealing the 'health quotient' index study on Thursday, Sujata Dutta, VP-A&H, Tata AIG Life Insurance Company said, "Bangalore barely makes with a score of 58 out of 100. A good lifestyle city needs to have a rating of 80 to 100. This denotes that there is a need for tremendous improvement in health as Bangaloreans are prone to a lot of health risks."

Tata AIG Life Insurance Company in association with the Indian Medical Association (IMA Mumbai Branch) on Thursday launched a 'health quotient' -- an index developed to measure and quantifies health parameters. The 'health quotient' is a healthcare initiative that seeks to raise awareness about increasing health hazards linked to shortcomings in the lifestyles of people.

Tata AIG Life has been regularly conducting 'health matters index' surveys to assess the awareness and the need for accident and health insurance as well as critical illness covers in India.

The company, as part of the survey, measured health quotient in Bangalore and other cities like Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Jaipur. In Bangalore, 7,000 people were given questionnaire at malls, supermarkets, housing societies and business complexes and of this 80 per cent were below 40 years of age.

Bangalore, on a scale of 1 to 4, scored poorly on the following parameters: Frequency of visit to the dentist at a low 2.29, frequency of eye-check at 2.34, frequency of exercise/physical sports at a low 2.37 and unhealthy snacks in between meals (junk food) 2.47.

Parameters on which the city scores: hours of watching television low at 3.02, frequency of having medicines low at 3.07, inclusion of fruits and vegetables in diet high at 3.14, frequency of alcohol consumption low at 3.26 and frequency of smoking low at 3.56.

Sunita Kshirsagar, president, Indian Medical Association (Mumbai Branch), said, "Our endeavour is to create a sense of healthy living across all sections. The increasing pressures of urban life have increased our vulnerability to various ailments. Hence, there is a greater need today to raise awareness about ailments linked to unhealthy and stressful lifestyles. Through this association with Tata AIG Life Insurance, we are sure of reaching out to people and creating a sense of healthy living and greater awareness of health related situations."