The Innsbruck Women's Health Study 1999: health status and behaviour.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to report descriptive results of a recent survey on women's health and to analyse associations between perceived health status and health behaviour.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey on 609 women aged 20 to 95 years was performed in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1999.


RESULTS
Self-reported poor health status was 6% in the 20-39 age group, 10% in the 40-59 age group and 20% in the 60 and older age group. Age and physical activity were significant predictors for health status. Women who performed physical activities on a regular basis had a more than 70% reduced risk of poor health status. Concerning the prevalence of self-reported morbidity, urogenital disorders (35%), allergies (32%), and headache (42%) were most frequent in younger women whereas skeletal disorders such as rheumatic diseases (41%), osteoporosis (39%), and invertebral disc damage (39%) in older women. Important health behaviour-related problems to be found were 40% smoking among women under 40, and 42% overweight or obesity among women over 60. Stress affected 37% of women under 60 years of age.


CONCLUSIONS
Physical activity, smoking, overweight and stress revealed to be key-indicators for improving women's health.
Ulmer
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H
Institute of Biostatistics and Documentation, Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck. Hanno.Ulmer@uibk.ac.at
Deibl
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M
Jäkel
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Pfeiffer
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001317:Austria; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016387:Women's Health