Kaba Z, Khamisa N, Tshuma N
Department of Public Health, School of Health Sciences, Monash South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa.
S Afr Med J. 2017 Aug 25;107(9):797-804. doi: 10.7196/SAMJ.2017.v107i9.12168.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Africa (SA) occur simultaneously with an ageing HIV-positive population, resulting in premature deaths in persons <70 years of age. Poor risk perception of NCDs results in poor adoption practices of NCD preventive measures. There is a gap in age-related research regarding risk perceptions of NCDs among the SA population.
To investigate age-group differences in risk perceptions of NCDs based on the Health Belief Model.
This cross-sectional design used secondary data obtained from Community AIDS Response (CARe), Johannesburg, SA. Data were collected by means of a cross-sectional survey in Extension 2 (Blocks I, J, K and L) of Diepsloot township, Johannesburg, SA. The Pearson χ2 test of independence was used to examine the relationship between age groups and risk perceptions of NCDs. A p<0.05 value was considered statistically significant.
A total of 2 135 participants were included in the analysis, of whom 71.5% were young adults (18 - 35 years). The mean age of the study participants was 32.1 (standard deviation 9.87) years. Significant associations were found between age groups and risk perceptions of NCDs. More middle-aged adults than young adults and older-aged adults perceived family history (74.00% v. 72.74% v. 62.39%, p=0.045) and smoking (83.80% v. 77.20% v. 74.31%, p=0.004) as risk factors that would increase their risk of NCDs. A higher proportion of older-aged adults than young adults and middle-aged adults perceived effects on life and family (89.91% v. 77.39% v. 75.40%, p=0.004) as risks of NCD morbidities. More middle-aged adults than young adults and older-aged adults perceived the usefulness of not smoking (84.60% v. 81.06% v. 74.31%, p=0.028) as an effective NCD preventive measure. More young adults than middle-aged and older-aged adults considered health check-ups (59.31% v. 58.00% v. 41.28%, p=0.001) as a time-consuming process to prevent risks of NCDs.
Young adults had poorer risk perceptions of NCDs than middle-aged and older-aged adults in Diepsloot township, resulting in poor practice of NCD preventive measures among young adults in the area. This may be due to the misunderstanding of the concept of invulnerability, possibly resulting from the limited access and exposure to NCD-related information among young adults compared with middle-aged and older-aged groups. This highlights the need to expand public health education programmes to increase outreach to the young adult population and increase accessibility to information relating to NCD risks, and encourage adoption of NCD preventive measures.
在南非，非传染性疾病（NCDs）与艾滋病毒呈阳性的老龄人口同时出现，导致70岁以下人群过早死亡。对非传染性疾病的风险认知不足导致非传染性疾病预防措施的采用情况不佳。在南非人群中，关于非传染性疾病风险认知的年龄相关研究存在空白。
基于健康信念模型调查非传染性疾病风险认知的年龄组差异。
本横断面设计使用了从南非约翰内斯堡社区艾滋病应对（CARe）获得的二手数据。数据通过在南非约翰内斯堡迪普斯洛特镇第2区（I、J、K和L街区）进行的横断面调查收集。使用Pearson卡方独立性检验来检验年龄组与非传染性疾病风险认知之间的关系。p<0.05的值被认为具有统计学意义。
共有2135名参与者纳入分析，其中71.5%为年轻人（18 - 35岁）。研究参与者的平均年龄为32.1岁（标准差9.87）。发现年龄组与非传染性疾病风险认知之间存在显著关联。与年轻人和老年人相比，更多中年成年人认为家族病史（74.00%对72.74%对62.39%，p = 0.045）和吸烟（83.80%对77.20%对74.31%，p = 0.004）是会增加其患非传染性疾病风险的因素。与年轻人和中年成年人相比，更高比例的老年人认为对生活和家庭的影响（89.91%对77.39%对75.40%，p = 0.004）是非传染性疾病发病的风险。与年轻人和老年人相比，更多中年成年人认为不吸烟的有用性（84.60%对81.06%对74.31%，p = 0.028）是一种有效的非传染性疾病预防措施。与中年和老年成年人相比，更多年轻人认为健康检查（59.31%对58.00%对41.28%，p = 0.001）是预防非传染性疾病风险的耗时过程。
在迪普斯洛特镇，年轻人对非传染性疾病的风险认知比中年和老年成年人更差，导致该地区年轻人对非传染性疾病预防措施的践行不佳。这可能是由于对无懈可击概念的误解，可能是因为与中年和老年群体相比，年轻人获取和接触非传染性疾病相关信息的机会有限。这凸显了扩大公共健康教育计划的必要性，以增加对年轻人群体的覆盖范围，并提高获取非传染性疾病风险相关信息的可及性，并鼓励采用非传染性疾病预防措施。
