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Do health behaviours cluster in a working population in New Zealand?
Author(s) -
Williden Micalla,
Duncan Scott,
Schofield Grant
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
health promotion journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 2201-1617
pISSN - 1036-1073
DOI - 10.1071/he12234
Subject(s) - population health , health economics , cluster (spacecraft) , public health , community health , population , geography , environmental health , medicine , nursing , computer science , programming language
Issue addressed This study examines whether adhering to healthy weight, physical activity and fruit and vegetable recommendations lead to a cluster in a working population. Methods An online Health Risk Assessment (HRA) was administered to 1,296 (36%) employees in nine organisations across New Zealand. Clustering was defined as the co‐prevalence of behaviours above that which was expected by the laws of probability. Results Less than half the participants met physical activity guidelines (44.5%) or maintained a healthy weight (46.7%), and 29.4% consumed five or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Just 3.8% of participants met all three recommendations, compared to an expected prevalence of 7.6%. There was no clustering of health behaviours, with no difference between expected and observed prevalence (with an observed/expected (O/E) ratio between 0.68–0.93). Conclusion Few people adhere to two or more simple public health messages recommended to reduce risk of chronic disease. So what? Identifying co‐existing health behaviours could help with a more targeted approach to health promotion messages.