title: Discordance between Lifestyle-Related Health Practices and Beliefs of People Living in Kuwait: A Community-Based Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the concordance between lifestyle practices and beliefs of people living in Kuwait, and between their lifestyle practices and established evidence-informed recommendations for health.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional interview questionnaire study was conducted using a convenience sample of 100 adults living in Kuwait (age range 19-75 years). The interview included sections on demographics, and lifestyle-related practices and beliefs related to smoking, diet/nutrition, physical activity/exercise, sleep, and stress. Diet/nutrition and physical activity/exercise benchmarks were based on international standards. Analyses included descriptive statistics and the χ2 test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Beliefs about the importance of nutrition in lifestyle-related conditions were limited, and this was apparent in participants' dietary habits, e.g., low consumption of fruit/vegetables and multigrains: 16 (16%) and 9 (9%) met the recommended guidelines, respectively. Ninety-nine (99%) believed physical activity/exercise affects health overall, and 44 (44%) exercised regularly. Of the sample of 100, 20 (20%) exercised in accordance with evidence-based recommendations for maximal health. Compared with beliefs about other lifestyle-related behaviors/attributes, respondents believed nutrition contributed more than stress to heart disease, cancer, and stroke, and stress contributed more than nutrition to hypertension and diabetes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, our findings showed a discrepancy between lifestyle-related practices and beliefs, and between each of these and evidence-based recommendations for maximal health, i.e., not smoking, several servings of fruit and vegetables and whole-grain foods daily, healthy weight, restorative sleep, and low-to-moderate stress levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Suad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfadhli
authors.forename: Sabriyah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Mazeedi
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bodner
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D052756:Nutritional Sciences; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult