Lifestyle and Cancer Prevention—Opinions and Behaviors Among Romanian University Students

Abstract

Background: Healthy lifestyle promotion represents an important component of cancer prevention. The aim of this study is the assessment of opinions and behavior related to healthy lifestyle and cancer prevention among Romanian university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed by anonymous questionnaires in 2017 among 400 university students from the four main universities from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Results: One out of five students was overweight or obese, but 83% meet the recommendations for performing physical activity. The majority did not meet the recommendations of eating 400 g of fruits and vegetables daily, while almost half declared eating more than 500 g of red meat weekly and more than one third do not respect the recommendations for alcohol consumption. The factor analysis reveals two factors with regard to cancer prevention-related behaviors. The first one consists of those having an appropriate body weight, and having a higher tendency for consumption of fruits and vegetables, performing physical activity, while being more prone not to respect the recommendations regarding the alcohol consumption. The second factor refers to a higher tendency to respect both the recommendations for alcohol and red meat consumption. Conclusion:Future educational activities should focus on promoting better nutritional habits, decrease alcohol consumption and offer appropriate services for weight management among Romanian university students.

Determinants and changes in adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research cancer-prevention recommendations over the past 25 years in Switzerland

“…Compared to the adherence percentages of the most recent SHS, higher percentages were found in menuCH (Bae et al ., 2022; Karavasiloglou et al ., 2022) such that almost 80% of the menuCH participants met the physical activity recommendation and about 40% met the recommendation on alcohol consumption. Similar numbers were found in the Romanian study (physical activity adherence: 83.1%; alcohol consumption adherence: 45.7%) (Lotrean et al ., 2021). Rather low percentages of complete adherence were observed in Sweden (physical activity adherence: 28.5%; alcohol consumption adherence: 10.8%) (Kaluza et al ., 2020).…”

“…The recommendations on red and processed meat consumption and smoking status were stable over time and met by about half of the participants in this study. In Sweden, only 3.7%, and among the Romanian students, 52.7% met the recommendation for red and processed meat consumption (Kaluza et al ., 2020; Lotrean et al ., 2021). On the basis of menuCH (Karavasiloglou et al ., 2022), only 30.9% of the Swiss population met the recommendation on red and processed meat consumption, and 43.0% the one on smoking status.…”

“…Final cancer prevention score based on the six investigated cancer-prevention recommendations [maintain a healthy weight (only with respect to BMI), physical activity, plant-based diet (only with respect to fruit and vegetable intake), limit consumption of red and processed meat, limit consumption of alcohol, and smoking status] stratified by survey year using weighted, imputed data The recommendations on red and processed meat consumption and smoking status were stable over time and met by about half of the participants in this study. In Sweden, only 3.7%, and among the Romanian students, 52.7% met the recommendation for red and processed meat consumption (Kaluza et al, 2020;Lotrean et al, 2021). the basis of menuCH (Karavasiloglou et al, 2022), only 30.9% of the Swiss population met the recommendation on red and processed meat consumption, and 43.0% the one on smoking status.…”

“…Lotrean et al, 2021;Karavasiloglou et al, 2022). Generally, adherence to the cancer-prevention recommendations was rather low (Kaluza et al, 2020;Lotrean et al, 2021), and better adherence was associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence and mortality (Lohse et al, 2016;Solans et al, 2020).…”

“…Since 2007, when the first version of the WCRF/AICR cancer-prevention recommendations was published, several studies have investigated adherence to the recommendations and its association with health outcomes (Lohse et al ., 2016; Kaluza et al ., 2020; Solans et al ., 2020; Lotrean et al ., 2021; Karavasiloglou et al ., 2022). Generally, adherence to the cancer-prevention recommendations was rather low (Kaluza et al ., 2020; Lotrean et al ., 2021), and better adherence was associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence and mortality (Lohse et al ., 2016; Solans et al ., 2020).…”