Adolescent health brief
Chronic Disease–Related Lifestyle Risk Factors in a Sample of Canadian Adolescents

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Abstract

This study examined the prevalence, clustering, age trends, and gender differences of chronic-disease related risk factors among a large sample of adolescents (N = 4932) in Alberta, Canada. Approximately 43% of boys and 53% of girls displayed two or more risk factors. Age trends and gender differences were also observed.

Section snippets

Methods

The Web-Survey of Physical Activity and Nutrition (Web-SPAN) assessed nutrition, physical activity, smoking, and related meal behaviors of students in grades 7–10 across the province of Alberta, Canada. All 59 public and separate school boards in the province were selected for participation, which included schools in both rural and urban areas, public schools, Catholic schools, and private schools. Of these 59 school boards, 48 agreed to participate. Among these, an average of seven schools

Results

Table 1 summarizes the proportion of participants reporting a particular risk factor by age and gender, along with Chi-square analysis results for each risk factor. Significant gender differences were found for all risk factors except for smoking.

Trend analysis for PA revealed a significant negative linear trend with age for boys (F = 28.79; p < .001) and girls (F = 81.90; p < .001). Fat intake displayed a significant positive linear trend for boys (F = 4.85; p < .01). Diet quality improved

Discussion

The synergistic impact of various lifestyle behaviors on health over a lifetime may significantly increase disease risk to a level greater than either factor alone [10]. Our study found that approximately 50% or more of youth had two or more risk factors for chronic conditions. Being female increased the odds of having two or more risk factors by 52%, and there was a 17% increase in the odds of disease risk per each additional unit of age. The rationale for exploring clustering of health

Acknowledgments

Ronald Plotnikoff and Kim Raine are supported from Salary Awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Applied Public Health Chair Program) and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Kate Storey received funding from the Danone Institute of Canada (Doctoral Student Award), Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Health Research Studentship. We thank Rhona Hanning, Ph.D., R.D.,

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