Browsing by Subject "Elintapa"

Introduction Lifestyle change recommendation from healthcare professional can motivate people to improve their lifestyles and decrease the risk for non-communicable diseases (NCD). Previous evidence show that lifestyle change recommendations are provided insufficiently in healthcare. Unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, excessive use of alcohol and smoking are lifestyle factors that can be influenced to prevent or delay the development of NCDs. Aims This Master´s thesis aim was to investigate the quantity of received lifestyle change recommendations from healthcare professionals in Finland, and whether sociodemographic factors influence on receiving them. We also studied whether there are differences between lifestyles (diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption) and risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, hypergly-caemia and overweight or obesity) among those who received lifestyle change recommendations and those who did not. Materials and methods Cross-sectional data (n=5125) from FinHealth-2017 -study, by the Finnish institute of Health and Welfare were used in this study. Variables concerning lifestyle change recommendations, lifestyle and metabolic risk factors were gathered by questionnaires and certain risk factor variables were measured in health examinations. Statistical analyses for continuous variables were performed by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and by crosstabulation for categorial variables. Results Received lifestyle change recommendations were reported by 25 % of participants. Nurses were reported as provider of the recommendation twice as often as doctors. Age group from 50 to 70 years reported receiving recommendations the most. Lifestyle- and metabolic risk factors were more com-mon among those who received lifestyle change recommendations, but quality of diet did not differ notably. Conclusions Results suggest that the quantity of received lifestyle change recommendations from healthcare professionals is low, considering the lifestyles and the prevalence of risk factors in Finnish population. Thus, it is possible, that risk factors for NCDs are not identified in healthcare practise, or that lifestyles are not raised as an issue during healthcare visits with patients that are still relatively healthy, without comorbidity. Results suggest that lifestyle guidance and primary prevention should be made a priority to prevent NCDs and enable adequate public healthcare for all in the future.