A cross-sectional examination of modifiable risk factors for chronic disease among a nationally representative sample of youth: are Canadian students graduating high school with a failing grade for health?

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 569
• Main Authors: Leatherdale, Scott T, Rynard, Vicki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 11.06.2013; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Age Distribution; Alcohol use; Binge Drinking - epidemiology; Body mass index; Canada - epidemiology; Chronic Disease; Chronic diseases; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet - statistics & numerical data; Disease prevention; Drug use; Drugs and youth; Exercise; Female; Fruit; Guidelines as Topic; Health; Health aspects; Health Behavior; Humans; Longitudinal studies; Male; Marijuana; Marijuana Smoking - epidemiology; Military bases; Motor Activity; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Overweight; Overweight - epidemiology; Persons; Prevention programs; Public health; Risk Factors; School boards; Sedentary Lifestyle; Sex Distribution; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Statistics; Students; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; Teenagers; Tobacco; Youth; Canada
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-569

Substance use and weight gain among youth increase the risk for future disease. As such, the purpose of this study is to examine how many Canadian youth are currently failing to meet substance use and weight gain related public health guidelines. Data from the 2010-11 Youth Smoking Survey were used to examine grade 9 to 12 students meeting seven different guidelines by sex and by grade. Among Canadian youth, 8.8% were current smokers, 18.8% were current marijuana users, 25.5% were current binge drinkers, 22.5% were considered overweight or obese, 31.2% did not meet physical activity guidelines, 89.4% exceeded sedentary behaviour guidelines, and 93.6% reported inadequate fruit and vegetable intake. The mean number of risk factors per student was 2.9 (±1.2); only 0.5% of youth reported having none of the risk factors. Students rarely met all seven public health guideline examined, and the vast majority of actually reported having two or more modifiable risk factors for disease.