Do health behaviours cluster in a working population in New Zealand?

Issue Addressed: This study examines whether adhering to healthy weight, physical activity and fruit and vegetable recommendations lead to a cluster in a working population.

Methods: An online Health Risk Assessment (HRA) was administered to 1,296 (36%) employees in nine organisations across New Zealand. Clustering was defined as the co-prevalence of behaviours above that which was expected by the laws of probability.

Results: Less than half the participants met physical activity guidelines (44.5%) or maintained a healthy weight (46.7%), and 29.4% consumed five or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day. Just 3.8% of participants met all three recommendations, compared to an expected prevalence of 7.6%. There was no clustering of health behaviours, with no difference between expected and observed prevalence (with an observed/expected (O/E) ratio between 0.68-0.93).

Conclusion: Few people adhere to two or more simple public health messages recommended to reduce risk of chronic disease.