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A Health Behavior Score is Associated with Hypertension and Obesity Among Australian Adults
Author(s) -
Livingstone Katherine M.,
McNaughton Sarah A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1002/oby.21911
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , obesity , poisson regression , national health and nutrition examination survey , public health , demography , gerontology , physical therapy , environmental health , population , nursing , sociology
Objective To investigate associations between a health behavior score and prevalence of hypertension and overweight/obesity. Methods Adults ( n = 4,609; 19‐85 years) were included from the cross‐sectional Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. A health behavior score was derived based on individuals meeting recommendations for diet quality, smoking, physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep. Poisson regression estimated the prevalence ratio (PR) of hypertension and overweight/obesity by health behavior score. Results Individuals meeting three (PR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.54‐0.86; P = 0.001), four (PR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59‐0.96; P = 0.024), or five (PR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43‐0.94; P = 0.024) health behavior recommendations had a lower hypertension PR compared with those meeting zero or one recommendation. The PR of overweight/obesity was lower in individuals meeting three (PR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.95‐1.02; P = 0.019), four (PR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91‐0.99; P = 0.019), or five (PR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90‐0.99; P = 0.022) recommendations compared with those meeting zero or one. Conclusions Hypertension and overweight/obesity prevalence were lower in individuals who had above‐average diet quality, never smoked, were physically active, spent less time sedentary, and got adequate sleep. These findings support a holistic approach to public health recommendations.