{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T09:57:20Z","timestamp":1792058240296,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,17]],"date-time":"2024-12-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1734393600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":16,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["bmjph"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,11]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Transitioning to higher education (HE) has been highlighted as a critical time to embed positive health-related behaviours (HRBs). However, there has been a long-standing association between student life and risk-taking. This study aimed to (1) identify the prevalence of HRBs over time in cohorts of HE students in Ireland, (2) establish an overall health index and analyse the health-related status of HE students and associated factors based on this index and (3) explore student perspectives towards public health interventions.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Using an anonymous, repeated measures, cross-sectional study design, 4 years of data were gathered and analysed from a student sample (N (final)=3221). A series of Pearson\u2019s \u03c7<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>, t-tests and one-way analysis of variance tests followed by linear regression analysis were performed to determine the individual and combined associations between participant characteristics and health scores.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>There were notable unfavourable patterns over time in all HRBs, except tobacco use, which indicated a declining trend. Factors associated with lower health index scores included identifying as female, living at home, higher socioeconomic status, studying in the arts humanities and social sciences field and having a higher body mass index. Most students reported they would avail of an intervention on drug use (78.1%, 95%\u2009CI 0.77% to 0.80%), alcohol consumption (75.7%, 95%\u2009CI 0.74% to 0.77%), tobacco use (67.3%, 95%\u2009CI 0.66% to 0.69%) and mental health (65.4%, 95%\u2009CI 0.64% to 0.67%) if they felt that they needed to.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This study demonstrates a clear rationale for providing health-enhancing behavioural interventions for students in HE settings. Outcomes may be of interest to educationalists, policy-makers and health-promotion experts.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjph-2024-001514","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,15]],"date-time":"2025-07-15T02:52:22Z","timestamp":1752547942000},"page":"e001514","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Prevalence of health-related behaviours and associated factors in university students in Ireland: a 4-year repeated cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0452-4544","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Aoife","family":"Noonan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8562-2877","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Audrey","family":"Tierney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Allied Health, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8973-6759","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catherine","family":"Norton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5461-7706","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kwok","family":"Ng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland"},{"name":"Institute of Innovation and Sports Science, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania"},{"name":"Faculty of Education, University of Turku, Rauma, Finland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0892-6591","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catherine","family":"Woods","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025083110341946000_2.2.e001514.1","unstructured":"World Health Organization . 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