Progress toward attainment of the Healthy People 2000 objectives in the U.S. Army: measured by health risk appraisal results.
BACKGROUND
Healthy People 2000 (HP2000) is a national agenda of health promotion and disease prevention objectives, with specific health behavior goals in 22 priority areas. The U.S. Army Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) is a self-administered health-habits survey, inquiring about tobacco and alcohol use, physical activity, nutrition, and safety-related practices, given to more than 400,000 active-duty U.S. Army soldiers in the 1990s. This article compares the health behaviors of U.S. Army soldiers, as measured by the HRA, with the HP2000 objectives.


METHODS
We compared cross-sectional analyses of self-reported health behaviors of active-duty Army personnel responding to HRA questionnaires in 1991 (n=78,256) and in 1997-1998 (n=59,771) with corresponding HP2000 objectives. We also calculated longitudinal changes for personnel who took more than one HRA (n=86,393).


RESULTS
By 1997-1998, the Army exceeded HP2000 physical fitness goals by at least 50% and also exceeded goals for eating high-fiber foods and using bicycle helmets. The Army did not meet goals for nutrition, tobacco use, and seat-belt use.


CONCLUSIONS
The Army has made good progress toward the HP2000 goals. However, improvement is needed to meet the tobacco, nutrition, and safety goals.
U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, MA 01760-5007, USA. Michelle.Yore@na.amedd.army.mil
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Yore
N S
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Bell
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Senier
P J
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Amoroso
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States