A Health Behavior Score is Associated with Hypertension and Obesity Among Australian Adults

To investigate associations between a health behavior score and prevalence of hypertension and overweight/obesity.

Adults (n = 4,609; 19-85 years) were included from the cross-sectional Australian National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. A health behavior score was derived based on individuals meeting recommendations for diet quality, smoking, physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep. Poisson regression estimated the prevalence ratio (PR) of hypertension and overweight/obesity by health behavior score.

Individuals meeting three (PR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.54-0.86; P = 0.001), four (PR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.59-0.96; P = 0.024), or five (PR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43-0.94; P = 0.024) health behavior recommendations had a lower hypertension PR compared with those meeting zero or one recommendation. The PR of overweight/obesity was lower in individuals meeting three (PR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.95-1.02; P = 0.019), four (PR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91-0.99; P = 0.019), or five (PR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.90-0.99; P = 0.022) recommendations compared with those meeting zero or one.

Hypertension and overweight/obesity prevalence were lower in individuals who had above-average diet quality, never smoked, were physically active, spent less time sedentary, and got adequate sleep. These findings support a holistic approach to public health recommendations.