The clustering of health risk behaviours in a Western Australian adult population

Issue Addressed Human behaviours influence health. Most people partake in numerous behaviours that increase their risk of chronic disease. For years health promotion interventions have been changing behaviour to improve health. While it is known that most people exhibit more than one health risk behaviour, it is not clear if health behaviours occur in patterns within population subgroups. This paper aims to explore the clustering patterns of six health risk behaviours among Australian adults. Methods Data collected from four (1992, 1994, 1998 and 2002) community‐based surveys were used to explore the relationships between a variety of health risk behaviours. The behaviours included were smoking, unsafe alcohol consumption, low fruit consumption, low vegetable consumption, insufficient physical activity and poor sun protection practices. The sample comprised 8,668 West Australian residents aged 16–69 years. A k‐means cluster analysis was used to determine groups of people with similar health behaviours. Results Four health risk behaviour clusters were identified, one overall health promoting ‘Safe’, two ‘Risky’ and one ‘Moderate’ (mix of healthy and unhealthy behaviours). These health behaviour clusters were distinguishable by demographic characteristics, where by women aged 40 years and older on high incomes were most likely to be part of the ‘Safe’ cluster, younger people the risky smoker cluster and older men the risky drinker cluster. Conclusion The results of this study support the idea that people exhibit on average three risky health behaviours and that these behaviours inter‐relate. The results further suggest that sub‐groups in the study population were differentiated by the type of risky health behaviours they exhibit. So what? The profiles derived from this study provide a more detailed picture of health behaviours in this population than has previously been available. The findings are of particular relevance to targeted health promotion campaigns, where the focus of a single risky health behaviour or priority target group may be considered in isolation from other health behaviours. The results of this study do not necessarily suggest a move towards a general health promotion intervention approach; rather they support the idea that when planning health promotion interventions addressing behaviours that cluster together are likely to be an important part of successfully reducing behaviour. For example, interventions focused on smoking reduction might consider how alcohol consumption impacts upon opportunities to smoke and provide structural and policy changes relating to alcohol to complement smoking related intervention activities.