Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

Healthy Living: Exploring protective lifestyle factors in the Irish Population

Ms Janas HarringtonDept of Epidemiology & Public Health

University College Cork

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

IntroductionIntroduction• The influence of smoking, diet, physical activity and

alcohol consumption, on health is well documented

• Individual lifestyle focus to date

• 4 Positive Lifestyle Behaviours (Khaw et al)– 5+ Fruit and vegetables– Non-smoker– Being physically active – Being a moderate drinker

• Combined – predict a 4-fold difference in total mortality in men and women,

thus demonstrating that even small differences in lifestyle may make a big difference to the health of the population

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

SLÁN 2007 PLB ScoreSLÁN 2007 PLB Score

• Participants scored one point for each of the following health behaviours: – being a current non smoker; – being physically active (moderate/high activity score); – being a moderate drinker (1-14 alcohol units per

week); and– consuming 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables

daily.

• Participants could score from zero to four protective lifestyle behaviours (PLBs)

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

Protective Lifestyle FactorsProtective Lifestyle Factors• Sixteen percent scored 4 PLBs, 35% reported 3 PLBs, 32% 2 PBLs ,

15% scored 1 and 2% zero

• Men, older respondents and respondents in social classes 5-6 reported practising fewer PLBs compared to their respective counterparts

Number of Protective Lifestyle Behaviours by Gender

3

18

34 33

13

2

12

29

37

19

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0 1 2 3 4

Number of Protective Lifestyle Behaviours

(%)

Males Females

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

Self Rated General Health and PLBSelf Rated General Health and PLB

• Self rated health is worse among those demonstrating fewer protective lifestyle behaviours – Respondents with zero protective behaviours were

more likely to report their health as fair or poor rather than excellent/very good/good compared to those who had one or more protective behaviours.

– Those who scored zero for health behaviours had five times the odds of rating their general health as ‘fair or poor’ those with a score of 4.

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

Obesity and PLBObesity and PLB• A significant trend existed between BMI and PLB score (p<0.001). The odds

of being overweight or obese increased as PLB score decreased (OR 1.491 95% CI [.994-2.235] for 0 v’s 4PLBs).  

Number of PLBs by obesity distribution

1 1 2 2 1

37

4447

50

56

49

3936 36

33

1216 15

129

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0 1 2 3 4

No. of Protective Lifestyle Behaviours

(%)

Underweight Normal Weight Overweight Obese

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

ConclusionsConclusions• We face a surmountable battle to address the

‘causes of the causes’ of cardiovascular disease

• Data on the prevalence of core protective behaviours will provide an important population health metric to guide public policy over the next decade.

• Specifically highlights the need to develop a holistic approach to population health

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population

THANK YOUTHANK YOU

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population