Introduction:

About 75% of noncommunicable diseases and 40% of cancers can be prevented if risk factors such as poor lifestyles, physical inactivity and substance abuse are eliminated. Health professionals should make recommendations to patients about healthy lifestyles.

Objective:

To determine the factors associated with unhealthy lifestyles in health professionals of a hospital in Chiclayo.

Material and Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in health professionals at the Naylamp-Chiclayo Hospital in 2017. The adapted questionnaire of practices and beliefs about lifestyles was applied; the questionnaire measured sociodemographic variables, nutritional status and healthy practices (physical activity, eating habits, tobacco and alcohol consumption); the answers were classified as healthy and unhealthy. The Chi-square test was used to establish an association between lifestyles and their related factors.

Results:

Of the respondents, 44.6% were overweight and obese. The predominant lifestyle category was unhealthy lifestyle (58.7%). The predominant categories were: unhealthy eating habits (52.1%), smoking (passive/active) (58.7%). Associations were found between young age, female sex, overweight or obesity, and being a non-medical professional and a smoker with unhealthy lifestyles.

Conclusions:

Low physical activity, tobacco consumption, and poor diet have been identified in health professionals. It is concluded that health professionals in Chiclayo have unhealthy lifestyles.

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