چکیده (انگلیسی):

Background:Smoking, excessive drinking, lack of exercise and a poor diet remain key causes of premature
morbidity and mortality globally, yet it is not clear what proportion of patients attending for routine primary care
are eligible for interventions about these behaviours, the extent to which they co-occur within individuals, and
which individuals are at greatest risk for multiple unhealthy behaviours. The aim of the trial was to examine
‘intervention eligibility’ and co-occurrence of the‘big four’ risky health behaviours –lack of exercise, smoking, an
unhealthy diet and excessive drinking–in a primary care population.
Methods:Data were collected from adult patients consulting routinely in general practice across South Wales as
part of the Pre-Empt study; a cluster randomised controlled trial.
After giving consent, participants completed screening instruments, which included the following to assess
eligibility for an intervention based on set thresholds: AUDIT-C (for alcohol), HSI (for smoking), IPAQ (for exercise)
and a subset of DINE (for diet). The intervention following screening was based on which combination of risky
behaviours the patient had. Descriptive statistics,χ2 tests for association and ordinal regressions were undertaken.
Results:Two thousand sixty seven patients were screened: mean age of 48.6 years, 61.9 % female and 42.8 % in a
managerial or professional occupation. In terms of numbers of risky behaviours screened eligible for, two was the
most common (43.6 %), with diet and exercise (27.2 %) being the most common combination. Insufficient exercise
was the most common single risky behaviour (12.0 %). 21.8 % of patients would have been eligible for an
intervention for three behaviours and 5.9 % for all four behaviours. Just 4.5 % of patients did not identify any risky
behaviours. Women, older age groups and those in managerial or professional occupations were more likely to
exhibit all four risky behaviours.
Conclusion:Very few patients consulting for routine primary care screen ineligible for interventions about common
unhealthy behaviours, and most engage in more than one of the major common unhealthy behaviours. Clinicians
should be particularly alert to opportunities to engaging younger, non professional men and those with
multi-morbidity about risky health behaviour.
Trial registration:ISRCTN22495456