Health Behaviours and Potentially Preventable Hospitalisation: A Prospective Study of Older Australian Adults

Objective : Several Studies have demonstrated the effetcs of health behaviors on risk of chronic diseases and mortality , but none have investigated their contribution to potentially preventable hospitalisation (PPH). We aimed to quantify the effects on risk of PPH of six health behaviours: smoking; alcohol consumption; physical activity; fruit and vegetables consumption; sitting time; and sleeping time. Design/ Setting: Prospective observational study in New South Wales, Australia. Subjects: 267,006 men and women aged 45 years and over. Outcome Measures: PPH admissions and mortality during follow- up according to individual positive health behaviours ( non- smoking < 14 alcoholic drinks per week, >= 2.5 hours of physical activity per week, >= 2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables per day < 8 hours sitting and >= 7 hours sleeping per day) and the total number of these behaviours. Results: During an average of 3 years follow- up, 20971 ( 8%) participants had at least one PPH admission. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants who reported all six positive health behaviours at baseline had 46% lower risk of PPH admission ( 95% CI 0.48-0.61), compared to those who reported having only one of these behaviours. Based on these risk estimates, approximately 29% of PPH admissions in Australians aged 45 years and over were attributable to not adhering to the six health behaviours. Estimates were similar for acute, chronic and vaccine- preventable categories of PPH admissions. Conclusions: Individual and combined positive health behaviours were associated with lower risk of PPH admission. These findings suggest that there is a significant opportunity to reduce PPH by promoting healthy behaviours.