Open AccessHEALTH‐RELATED ASPECTS OF LIFESTYLE IN GENERAL HOSPITAL PATIENTS
Author(s) -
Oldenburg B.,
MacMahon S.W.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
community health studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 0314-9021
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1984.tb00455.x
Subject(s) - medicine , obesity , alcohol consumption , health promotion , risk factor , community hospital , family medicine , environmental health , gerontology , public health , alcohol , psychiatry , nursing , biochemistry , chemistry
Abstract Health‐related aspects of lifestyle were surveyed in a random sample of adult inpatients from a general hospital in Sydney. The results were compared with the results of the National Heart Foundation of Australia 1980 Risk Factor Prevalence Study. The results suggest that the lifestyle of male hospital patients in this sample was similar to that of males in the community; the most prevalent lifestyle risk factors being smoking, obesity and heavy alcohol consumption. The lifestyle of female patients was different from that of females in the community; high risk lifestyles were more prevalent in the hospital group. The difference was most pronounced in women under the age of 40, in whom smoking, obesity, heavy alcohol consumption and frequent use of analgesics were 2–3 times more common in hospital patients than in the community sample. Hospitals need to consider more closely the specific health promotion and educational needs of their own patient populations.