A survey of the prevalence of modifiable health risk behaviours among carers of people with a mental illness

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Variables associated with chronic disease risk behaviour status and interest in changing ‘at risk’ behaviours

Variable*	OR	95% CI	p
Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Risk Status ^{(n = 137)a}
Carer previously married/never married	4.12	1.31–12.94	.02
Carer married or cohabiting		Reference category
Physical Activity Risk Status ^{(n = 127)b}
Carer in the workforce	2.58	1.17–5.70	.02
Carer not in the workforce		Reference category
Alcohol Consumption Risk Status ^{(n = 133)c}
Male carer	2.98	1.12–7.97	.03
Female carer		Reference category
Interest in Changing Alcohol Consumption ^{(n = 40)d}
Carer in the workforce	5.14	1.29–20.52	.02
Carer not in the workforce		Reference category

OR Odds Ratio, CI Confidence Interval
* No significant associations were found for smoking risk status, interest in changing fruit and vegetable consumption, and smoking. Carer age was found to be significantly associated with interest in improving physical activity, however the small number of included negative event cases where carers were not interested in improving physical activity (8/63) contributed to large 95% CI; thus the authors had low confidence in the accuracy of the model and results are not reported
Variables entered into regression models:
^a Carer gender, carer employment status, carer marital status, carer relationship to person with a mental illness
^b Carer age, carer employment status, years caring for person with a mental illness
^c Carer age, carer gender, carer highest education level
^d Carer employment status, Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage

ISSN: 1471-2458