Health determinants among participants in targeted health dialogues offered to all 40-year-old individuals in a metropolitan region of 1.4 million people.

Abstract

Objective: To examine cardiovascular risk factors in 40-year-old participants in the health screening program targeted health dialogues (THDs).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: 99 Swedish healthcare centers.

Intervention: Metabolic risk factors and health behaviors were assessed. THDs were provided.

Subjects: 1831 (62.3%) THD participants that consented to take part in the research project.

Main outcome measures: (1) Prevalence of metabolic risk factors (blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, BMI, waist-hip ratio) and unhealthy behaviors (tobacco, alcohol, diet, physical activity) by sex, education, and place of birth. (2) Associations between different health behaviors and between the number of unhealthy behaviors and prevalence of metabolic risk factors. (3) THD participation by sociodemographics compared to age-matched controls.

Results: Men had a higher prevalence of all metabolic risk factors, excessive alcohol use and tobacco use than women. Lower educated individuals had a higher prevalence of metabolic risk factors (except for LDL cholesterol) and tobacco use than highly educated. Participants born outside Sweden had a higher prevalence of obesity, high waist-hip ratio, and tobacco use. Participants with 3-4 unhealthy behaviors had significantly higher prevalence of each of the metabolic risk factors except BMI. Women, highly educated and Swedish-born participants were slightly over-represented in the THDs.

Conclusion: Considering the associations between unhealthy behaviors and metabolic risk factors, the THD method, covering lifestyle as well as objective health measures, may be an appropriate method for early identification of individuals at risk for future non-communicable diseases in the whole population with a specific focus on certain groups.

Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04912739.