Lifestyle of college students: follow-up study during the first two years of the undergraduate

Resumen

Introduction: The lifestyle (LS) have been constituted as a going concern factor in today’s society, since low levels of health and well -being may lead to adverse consequences , especially in vulnerable groups such as college students, whose behavior acquired at this stage can be extended to other stages of life. Model of the study: Cohort study. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the lifestyle of college students during the first two years of the undergraduate program. Methods: The study enrolled, students who enrolled in undergraduate programs of Teacher Education Center of the Federal University of Bahia Reconcavo in the first half of the school year 2010. The lifestyle was determined by using the selfadministered questionnaire “Style life Fantastic”. We used the Chi-square test, McNemar test and relative risk (RR), considering p<0.05. The sample that participated in the entire follow-up period was composed of 92 students (64.1% female). Results: There was an increasing trend in the prevalence of students who had unhealthy global LS (16.3% vs. 21.7%). Students who have already entered with LS unhealthy for the domains “Family and Friends” (RR=2.17; 95%CI: 1.25-3.76) and “introspection” (RR=1.69; 95%CI: 1.02-2.81) were at higher risk to remain with this behavior at the end of the second year of the degree course. Conclusions: Analyzing these results, together with the other findings of this study, it is concluded that the time spent in graduate influenced the LS students studied. Thus, it is suggested that public policies for health promotion are developed within the university campuses in order to contribute to the adoption of healthier behaviors among their students