engleski

Prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle habits in high school students from Split, Croatia

Introduction: Adopting a healthy lifestyle early in life is crucially important for preserving health, preventing non-communicable diseases and increasing quality of life in adulthood and old age. Unfortunately, overweight and obesity rates continue to rise in all regions of the world, especially in children, with an estimate of 40 million children under five, 131 million children between 5 and 9 years old, and 207 million adolescents being overweight (1). This is mostly driven by nutritional transition (2), and reduced physical activity levels (3). The aim of this study was to investigate the habits of high school students in Split, Croatia. Methods: We examined the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors (smoking, infrequent vegetables and fruits consumption, frequent consumption of processed meat, sweets and sodas, inadequate sleep and low physical activity, assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ), in adolescents aged 16-18 years attending 7 high schools in the City of Split. Results: We surveyed 881 students (558 girls, 323 boys ; response rate of 87%), during March-May 2019. Average BMI was 21.5±2.7 kg/m2, and 22% of students reported being active smokers (ranging from 7% to 35%, depending on the school), and 11% were ex-smokers. The average duration of sleep during working days was 7.5 h (IQR 1.5), and 44% of students slept <7 hours per night, resulting in 56% of moderately tired and 36% of students who felt very tired and sleepy after a night’s sleep. During the weekend students slept on average for 9.0h (IQR 2.0), indicating that they do try to compensate for lost sleep during the working part of the week. Low level of physical activity was present in 8% of students, moderate level in 32% and high level of physical activity was recorded in 60% of students who filled the IPAQ questionnaire completely (N=463). Conclusion: This study demonstrates a moderate to high prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle patterns in adolescent population from the Mediterranean region of Croatia, demonstrating substantial departure from healthy Mediterranean lifestyle. More effort has to be placed in promotion of healthy habits among adolescents.

Mediterranean diet

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