Prevalence and co-occurrence of health risk behaviors among high-risk drinkers in a primary care population.
BACKGROUND
Approximately 10% of patients seen in the primary care setting meet criteria for high-risk (HR) drinking. Little data are available about the co-occurrence of other risk behaviors (RBs) in this population. This study examines the co-occurrence of smoking, poor diet, and sedentariness, and several change-related variables, among 479 HR drinkers participating in Project Health, a NIAAA-funded study testing the effectiveness of a provider-delivered intervention to reduce HR drinking.


METHODS
Data were collected at study entry via standardized interview and questionnaire.


RESULTS
The prevalence of additional RBs among HR drinkers was smoking, 35%; poor diet, 28%; and sedentariness, 44%. In addition to HR drinking, 67% of participants had at least one RB, and 61% reported smoking, sedentariness, or both. Perception of drinking as a problem was generally low (20%), as was intention to change drinking. Seventy-two percent of participants with multiple RBs perceived at least one of these RBs as a problem. Younger, unmarried, less-educated, blue-collar, and non-working participants were more likely to have multiple RBs than white-collar workers.


CONCLUSIONS
Additional RBs are common among HR drinkers and may increase their already elevated health risks. Implications of these findings for interventions integrating multiple RBs into primary care settings are discussed.
Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, 01655, USA. Milagros.Rosal@umassmed.edu
M C
MC
Rosal
J K
JK
Ockene
T G
TG
Hurley
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S
Reiff
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects; D004522:Educational Status; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires