The Slán 2007 survey reveals a worrying trend in the lifestyles and behaviours of Irish adults, writes Dr Giles Warrington.
THE ATTITUDES and behaviours towards physical activity, nutrition and lifestyle of many adults living in the Republic are at odds with current health promotion guidelines.
That's according to the key findings of the recently published Slán 2007 survey which assessed health behaviours and general health. The main survey, which was a follow-up to previous postal surveys undertaken in 1998 and 2002, involved interviews with more than 10,000 adults aged 18 or over.
Additionally, two sub-group studies were also conducted to establish health risk profiles of younger and older adults.
For the purpose of the survey, being physically active was defined as "participating in exercise or sport two to three times per week for 20 or more minutes at a time or engaging in more general activities, like walking, cycling or dancing, four to five times a week accumulating to at least 30 minutes per day".
This definition of physical activity required for health promotion would relate closely to international standards such as the guidelines recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine.
Although the majority of the survey respondents (55 per cent) reported currently being physically active for the past 12 months, of particular concern was the finding that almost a quarter (24 per cent) failed to meet minimum physical activity levels and over a fifth (22 per cent) of those surveyed reported being physically inactive.
Of those classified as inactive, less than half (41 per cent) were thinking of engaging in regular exercise in the next six months.
A closer analysis of the survey data revealed no real gender differences in activity patterns. In contrast, the youngest age group (18-29 years) reported the highest percentage of respondents who were physically active for the past six months with a progressive decline across age groups with the oldest age group (65+ years) reporting the highest level of inactivity (31 per cent).
When questioned on reasons for inactivity the most frequent response was "no time" (41 per cent). Other factors associated with inactivity included ill health (18 per cent), lack of interest (14 per cent) and a reluctance to commit the time (14 per cent). Lack of access to appropriate facilities appeared to be only a minor barrier to regular physical activity (3 per cent).
Based on the food pyramid, which promotes healthy eating through the appropriate selection and amounts of different food types, 86 per cent of the total adult population were consuming in excess of the recommended daily amounts of fat, sugar and salt as a proportion of total dietary intake, with no change observed from the previous surveys of 1998 and 2002.
On a more positive note, 77 per cent of those surveyed in 2007 reported consuming four or more daily servings of fruit and vegetables, compared with 56 per cent in 1998 and 68 per cent in 2002.
Although there was a reduction in smoking levels - from 33 per cent in 1998 to 27 per cent in 2002, despite the implementation of the smoking ban in Ireland in 2004, the incidence of smoking in the adult population has increased from 27 per cent in 2002 to 29 per cent in 2007. Moreover, while there has been little change in smoking patterns of older adult groups between 2002 and 2007, prevalence in the youngest age groups has increased.
Patterns of alcohol consumption reported in the 2007 survey revealed that of the 81 per cent of adults who drank alcohol, 28 per cent reported excessive drinking in the previous year. Again the prevalence was more common in younger respondents.
Although the number of adults reporting to have consumed six standard drinks or more at least once a week has fallen by 17 per cent since 2002, the report urges caution regarding comparisons due to the different survey methods used.
Self-reported data for body fat levels was based on body mass index (BMI), which estimates body composition according to a person's height and weight, revealed that 36 per cent of all respondents reported being overweight and 14 per cent were obese. Compared with 1998, the incidence of overweight and obesity has increased by 5 and 3 per cent respectively.
When the data was analysed according to gender, a greater proportion of males were reported as overweight (43 per cent) or obese (16 per cent) compared with females (28 and 13 per cent respectively). Scientific evidence suggests that self-reported data often estimates the true prevalence of overweight and obesity.
To address this, height and weight measurements were independently collected on a sub-sample of 967 subjects to gain a more accurate picture. The independently measured results revealed a more worrying picture, with 39 per cent of the total sample classified as overweight (45 per cent men and 33 per cent women) and 25 per cent as obese (24 per cent men and 26 per cent women).
In addition to BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol measurements, which have been identified as key risk factors of cardiovascular disease, were taken on a sub-sample of 1,207 subjects aged 45 and over. In general, 94 per cent had at least one of the risk factors with the incidence being similar for men and women.
About 60 per cent of the population had high blood pressure and 82 per cent had raised cholesterol levels. When these factors were combined, 32 per cent of those assessed had raised cholesterol and were obese; 22 per cent had high blood pressure and were obese; 48 per cent had raised cholesterol and high blood pressure; and 18 per cent were found to have all three cardiovascular risk factors.
Looking at the survey in its totality, it is probably of little surprise that the incidence of individual and combined health risk factors for the Irish population over 45 years old are mirrored by the high incidence of inactivity combined with the nutritional and other lifestyle practices reported.
•Dr Giles Warrington is a sport and exercise physiologist and lecturer in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University.