title: Health behaviours and potentially preventable hospitalisation: a prospective study of older Australian adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several studies have demonstrated the effects of health behaviours on risk of chronic diseases and mortality, but none have investigated their contribution to potentially preventable hospitalisation (PPH). We aimed to quantify the effects on risk of PPH of six health behaviours: smoking; alcohol consumption; physical activity; fruit and vegetables consumption; sitting time; and sleeping time.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective observational study in New South Wales, Australia.
  
  
  METHODS
  267,006 men and women aged 45 years and over.
  
  
  METHODS
  PPH admissions and mortality during follow-up according to individual positive health behaviours (non-smoking, <14 alcoholic drinks per week, ≥ 2.5 hours of physical activity per week, ≥ 2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables per day, <8 hours sitting and ≥ 7 hours sleeping per day) and the total number of these behaviours.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During an average of 3 years follow-up, 20971 (8%) participants had at least one PPH admission. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants who reported all six positive health behaviours at baseline had 46% lower risk of PPH admission (95% CI 0.48-0.61), compared to those who reported having only one of these behaviours. Based on these risk estimates, approximately 29% of PPH admissions in Australians aged 45 years and over were attributable to not adhering to the six health behaviours. Estimates were similar for acute, chronic and vaccine-preventable categories of PPH admissions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individual and combined positive health behaviours were associated with lower risk of PPH admission. These findings suggest that there is a significant opportunity to reduce PPH by promoting healthy behaviours.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Bich
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Falster
authors.affiliation: Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Kirsty
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: The Sax Institute, Haymarket, NSW, Australia; Concord Clinical School, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Blyth
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia; The Sax Institute, Haymarket, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Louisa R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Jorm
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data