Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer	Table of contents Chapter key points On this page: Commentary References Print version
	Health-related behaviours Introduction

In this chapter

• Adequate physical activity in adults
• Adequate physical activity in adults by age
• Adequate physical activity in adults by health area
• Adequate physical activity in adults by Division of General Practice
• Physical activity in secondary school students
• Body mass index categories in adults
• Overweight and obesity in adults
• Overweight and obesity in school students
• Overweight and obesity in secondary school students
• Overweight and obesity in adults by Division of General Practice
• Fruit and vegetable consumption in adults and children
• Fruit and vegetable consumption by health area
• Fruit and vegetable consumption in secondary school students
• Breastfeeding
• Sun protection in adults and children
• Sun protection in secondary school students
• Smoking status
• Smoking in adults
• Smoking by health area
• Smoking in adults by Division of General Practice
• Quitting smoking
• Attitudes to smoking bans
• Smoking in secondary school students
• Death and illness attributable to smoking
• Illness attributable to smoking by local government area
• Alcohol use in adults
• Alcohol use by health area
• Alcohol use in adults by Division of General Practice
• High risk alcohol use by rurality
• Alcohol use in secondary school students
• Death and illness attributable to alcohol
• Illness attributable to alcohol by local government area
• Substance use in secondary school students
• Cannabis use in secondary school students
• Deaths from opiates and psychostimulants
• Ambulance attendances for drug overdose
• Sexual behaviour in adults

Introduction

Good health enhances the quality of human life and benefits the community. The opportunity to participate in and contribute to society is maximised in a healthy population. Organisational, economic, and environmental factors have major influences on the health of individuals. However, health-related behaviours also contribute significantly to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, and other conditions that account for much of the burden of morbidity and mortality in later life.

Measuring and reporting health behaviours provides important information for planning public health programs and for evaluation, at the macro level, of the net gains of these programs. The health behaviours described in this chapter include: physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, overweight and obesity, sun protection, smoking, and alcohol and illicit drug use.

In NSW, two of the measures of success in the State Plan: A New Direction for New South Wales (NSW Premier's Department, 2006), are a reduction in avoidable hospital admissions of aged people and people with chronic illnesses and a reduction in smoking rates, unhealthy alcohol consumption and obesity. Healthy People 2010: The population health strategy for NSW, sets the platform for population health action in NSW over the next 5 years and ensures that those interventions which have the highest benefits for our population and which address health differentials are undertaken. The plan builds on existing population health efforts in NSW and identifies key population health issues that must be tackled to meet the challenges arising from the changing profile of our community andthe increasing prevalence of chronic diseases (NSW Health, 2006). The Plan includes a range of strategies aimed at preventing chronic diseases, with specific initiatives aimed at reducing obesity, tobacco smoking, alcohol misuse, illicit drug use, and preventing chronic diseases in Aboriginal communities.

This chapter includes information from the NSW Population Health Surveys conducted between 1997 and 2005 and covering both children and adults in NSW; the NSW Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition Survey conducted in 2004; Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Health Surveys; the NSW School Students Health Behaviours Surveys for 1993 to 2005 (formerly the Australian Secondary School Students' Surveys); the NSW Department of Health Inpatient Statistics Collection; and ABS mortality data.

Apparent trends in some health indicators should be interpreted with caution, because data come from a range of surveys that used different modes. They may reflect real changes in the prevalence of behaviours, or differences due to variations in sampling and data collection methods.

For details of the methods used for analysing data from the New South Wales Population Health Survey and New South Wales School Students Health Behaviours Survey, refer to the Methods section.

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