Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population Healthy Living: Exploring protective lifestyle factors in the Irish Population Ms Janas Harrington Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health University College Cork

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

Department of Health and Children 2008, Dietary Habits of the Irish Population Self 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 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 % CI [ ] for 0 v’s 4PLBs).

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

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