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SELECTED HEALTH RISK FACTORS Alcohol consumption The NHS 2007-08 grouped respondents into categories of relative risk level for alcohol consumption based on the 2001 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) risk levels for harm in the long term. For more information, see National Health Survey: User's Guide, 2007-08 (cat. no.4363.0.55.001). People with profound or severe disabilities were not significantly more or less likely to participate in medium to risky/high risk alcohol consumption, with the exception of those aged 25-34yrs (Graph 21). In all ages other than age 45-54, people with Other disability are partaking of alcohol at a risky level substantially more often than those people with Profound/severe disability and people who have no disability. Body mass index While Body Mass Index (BMI) is a useful tool to assess and monitor changes in body mass at the population level, when interpreting the NHS 2007-08 data, users should bear in mind that it may be an inappropriate measure of the body mass of certain populations and certain individuals. For example:
For more information, see National Health Survey: User's Guide, 2007-08 (cat. no.4363.0.55.001). Graph 22 shows that people who are profoundly or severely disabled are more likely to be overweight or obese than those without disabilities across all age groups. There is a decrease in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among people with Profound/severe disability after the age of 64. Physical activity In the NHS 2007-08, physical activity guidelines for Australian adults included at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days of the week. Levels of activity were gauged by respondents being asked a series of questions about the exercise they undertook in the last week, expressed in the three categories of walking, moderate exercise and vigorous exercise. Graph 23 indicates that of those aged 18-54 years, there was no statistically significant difference in meeting the physical activity guidelines between people with Profound/severe disability (32.7%) and people without a disability (36.1%). The NHS 2007-08 also found that for people with Profound/severe disability, there was a marked difference in meeting the physical activity guidelines between younger people aged 18-54yrs (32.7%) and older people aged 55+ yrs (10.5%). Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.
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