Behavioral health risk factor profiles in general hospital patients: identifying the need for screening and brief intervention.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Little is known about the clustering of behavioral health risk factors (HRFs), namely the occurrence of 16 specific combinations of tobacco smoking, at-risk alcohol use, overweight and physical inactivity in general hospital patients. Furthermore, social inequalities in HRFs, health and life expectancy are a major concern in public health. In order to establish the need for screening and intervention in general hospital care, the study aimed to determine the co-occurrence of HRFs in patients in four medical departments, and to investigate differences by gender, age and socio-economic characteristics. METHODS:Over 17 months, a systematic multiple HRF screening was conducted at one general hospital in northeastern Germany. In total, 6251 18-64 year old patients (92% of eligibles)

SUBMITTER: Freyer-Adam J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6884835 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature