TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of multiple chronic disease risk factors
T2 - 2001 National Health Interview Survey
AU - Fine, Lawrence J.
AU - Philogene, G. Stephane
AU - Gramling, Robert
AU - Coups, Elliot J.
AU - Sinha, Sarbajit
N1 - Funding Information:
Preparation of this article was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
PY - 2004/8
Y1 - 2004/8
N2 - Background Four common factors - cigarette smoking, risky drinking of alcoholic beverages, physical inactivity, and overweight - contribute substantially to chronic disease prevalence. Methods We used data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey to provide an up-to-date picture of multiple risk factor prevalence and clustering in the U.S. population. We conducted a multinomial logit analysis to examine the independent association between each covariate and the dependent ordinal risk factor variable with three levels (none or one risk factor, two risk factors, and three or four risk factors). Results Seventeen percent of the sample of 29,183 subjects had three or more risk factors. For the entire sample, the mean number of risk factors was 1.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.66-1.70). Many demographic and health factors were significantly associated with the mean number of risk factors including gender, age, ethnic/racial categories, education, martial status, presence of chronic diseases, level of mental distress, country of birth, and presence and type of health insurance. Using the risk factor score as the ordinal dependent variable, adjusted odds for having a risk score of three or four versus zero or one were as follows: men aged <65, 2.49 (95% CI=2.29-2.72); education attainment of high school graduate or less, 3.24 (95% CI=2.86-3.67); and individuals with high levels of mental distress, 2.06 (95% CI=1.65-2.58). Conclusions Our analyses confirm earlier reports of the high prevalence of multiple, clustered behavioral risk factors and underline the challenge this presents for primary care and public health systems.
AB - Background Four common factors - cigarette smoking, risky drinking of alcoholic beverages, physical inactivity, and overweight - contribute substantially to chronic disease prevalence. Methods We used data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey to provide an up-to-date picture of multiple risk factor prevalence and clustering in the U.S. population. We conducted a multinomial logit analysis to examine the independent association between each covariate and the dependent ordinal risk factor variable with three levels (none or one risk factor, two risk factors, and three or four risk factors). Results Seventeen percent of the sample of 29,183 subjects had three or more risk factors. For the entire sample, the mean number of risk factors was 1.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.66-1.70). Many demographic and health factors were significantly associated with the mean number of risk factors including gender, age, ethnic/racial categories, education, martial status, presence of chronic diseases, level of mental distress, country of birth, and presence and type of health insurance. Using the risk factor score as the ordinal dependent variable, adjusted odds for having a risk score of three or four versus zero or one were as follows: men aged <65, 2.49 (95% CI=2.29-2.72); education attainment of high school graduate or less, 3.24 (95% CI=2.86-3.67); and individuals with high levels of mental distress, 2.06 (95% CI=1.65-2.58). Conclusions Our analyses confirm earlier reports of the high prevalence of multiple, clustered behavioral risk factors and underline the challenge this presents for primary care and public health systems.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.04.017
DO - 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.04.017
M3 - Article
C2 - 15275670
AN - SCOPUS:3242676071
VL - 27
SP - 18
EP - 24
JO - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
JF - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
SN - 0749-3797
IS - SUPPL.
ER -