Unité de Recherche en Physiologie Cardio-Respiratoire, Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1070 Bruxelles, Belgium.
Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute (SEMLI), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Jun 24;21(7):824. doi: 10.3390/ijerph21070824.
Personal health behaviours and lifestyle habits of health professionals influence their counselling practices related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). There are limited data on the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyle habits among medical students and the impact of acquired health knowledge throughout the curriculum. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the prevalence of modifiable behavioural NCD risk factors of medical students in different academic years at a South African tertiary institution.
A cross-sectional observational study of 532 consenting medical students was conducted. Participants completed five online questionnaires regarding lifestyle behaviours (physical activity, dietary habits, smoking, alcohol consumption and sleep).
Lifestyle-related risk factors with the highest prevalence were poor sleep quality (66.0%), low levels of habitual physical activity (55.8%) and low-to-moderate diet quality (54.5%). There were no differences between academic years for all risk factors measured. Over 60% of the cohort had two or more NCD risk factors and this prevalence did not differ across the degree program with the acquisition of more health knowledge.
Medical students have a high prevalence of poor sleep quality, low levels of physical activity and low-to-moderate diet quality, which does not appear to change over the course of their academic career. Sleep hygiene, regular physical activity and healthy nutrition should be targeted in intervention programmes and be more prevalent in the medical curriculum.
健康专业人员的个人健康行为和生活方式习惯会影响他们与非传染性疾病（NCD）相关的咨询实践。关于医学生中不健康生活方式习惯的流行率以及整个课程中获得的健康知识的影响，数据有限。本研究旨在确定和比较南非一所三级医疗机构不同年级医学生可改变的行为 NCD 风险因素的流行率。
对 532 名同意参与的医学生进行了横断面观察性研究。参与者完成了五个关于生活方式行为（体力活动、饮食习惯、吸烟、饮酒和睡眠）的在线问卷。
与生活方式相关的风险因素中，睡眠质量差（66.0%）、习惯性体力活动水平低（55.8%）和饮食质量低中等（54.5%）的流行率最高。所有测量的风险因素在各年级之间均无差异。超过 60%的队列有两个或更多 NCD 风险因素，而且随着健康知识的获取，这种患病率在不同学位课程中没有差异。
医学生的睡眠质量差、体力活动水平低和饮食质量低中等的比例较高，在整个学业生涯中似乎没有变化。睡眠卫生、定期体力活动和健康营养应该成为干预计划的目标，并在医学课程中更为普遍。
