diff --git a/healthcheck.sh b/healthcheck.sh
index 7de28be..fa327c0 100755
--- a/healthcheck.sh
+++ b/healthcheck.sh
@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD:-nopassword}
+
 # slave not configured
-RES=$(mysql -uroot -p"$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -e 'SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G')
-if [ "a$RES" = "a" ]; then
+SLAVE_STATUS=$(mysql -uroot -p"${MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD}" -e 'SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G')
+if [[ -z "${SLAVE_STATUS}" ]]; then
     exit 0
 fi
 
+# extract slave status
+SLAVE_IO=$(echo "${SLAVE_STATUS}" | awk -F: '/Slave_IO_Running/ {gsub(/ /, "", $2); print $2}')
+SLAVE_SQL=$(echo "${SLAVE_STATUS}" | awk -F: '/Slave_SQL_Running/ {gsub(/ /, "", $2); print $2}')
+
 # slave ok
-RES=$(mysql -uroot -p"$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -e 'SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G' | egrep '(Slave_IO_Running|Slave_SQL_Running):' | awk -F: '{print $2}' | tr '\n' ',')
-if [ "$RES" = " Yes, Yes," ]; then
+if [[ "${SLAVE_IO}" == "Yes" && "${SLAVE_SQL}" == "Yes" ]]; then
     exit 0
 fi