Relation between insufficient physical activity, smoking, inadequate food, and alcohol consumption among university students in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the combinations between insufficient physical activity, smoking, inadequate food and alcohol consumption, as well as sociodemographic and university affiliation characteristics associated with aggregations among university students at a higher education institution in Minas Gerais, Brazil. This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out with university students attending undergraduate courses at a federal institution. Data were obtained through questionnaires. Risk behaviors (insufficient physical activity, smoking, irregular fruit/vegetable consumption, and alcohol consumption) were classified into 16 combinations and the ratios between observed and expected prevalences were analyzed. The outcome was the aggregations of health risk factors that exceeded the expected prevalences. The prevalence ratios (PR) estimated by Poisson regression, the crude and adjusted analyses were used to verify the presence of associations. The significance level was 5%. Participated 1,110 university students. Of the 16 combinations, two exceeded values, the absence and presence of all behavioral risk factors. There were stronger associations for the absence of risk factors for university students in the health area (PR= 2.07; 95%CI: 1.43–2.99) and a lower occurrence for students in the daytime study period (PR = 0.63; 95%CI: 0.43-0.96). It is concluded that there were higher prevalences above the expected for the combinations of four risk behaviors among university students and regarding the absence of the studied behavioral factors. There was an association with a higher occurrence of absence of risk factors for students of Health Sciences and a greater combination of risk factors on daytime college students.