Cross-Sectional Analysis of University Students’ Health Using a Digitised Health Survey

Pier A. Spinazze, Marise J. Kasteleyn, Jiska J. Aardoom, Josip Car and Niels H. Chavannes
Additional contact information
Pier A. Spinazze: Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Global Digital Health Unit, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W6 8RP, UK
Marise J. Kasteleyn: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
Jiska J. Aardoom: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
Josip Car: Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Global Digital Health Unit, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London W6 8RP, UK
Niels H. Chavannes: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: University student years are a particularly influential period, during which time students may adopt negative behaviours that set the precedent for health outcomes in later years. This study utilised a newly digitised health survey implemented during health screening at a university in Singapore to capture student health data. The aim of this study was to analyze the health status of this Asian university student population. A total of 535 students were included in the cohort, and a cross-sectional analysis of student health was completed. Areas of concern were highlighted in student’s body weight, visual acuity, and binge drinking. A large proportion of students were underweight (body mass index (BMI) < 18.5)—18.9% of females and 10.6% of males—and 7% of males were obese (BMI > 30). Although the overall prevalence of alcohol use was low in this study population, 9% of females and 8% of males who consumed alcohol had hazardous drinking habits. Around 16% of these students (male and female combined) typically drank 3–4 alcoholic drinks each occasion. The prevalence of mental health conditions reported was very low (<1%). This study evaluated the results from a digitised health survey implemented into student health screening to capture a comprehensive health history. The results reveal potential student health concerns and offer the opportunity to provide more targeted student health campaigns to address these.

Keywords: health screening; health survey; university student health; young Asian adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3009/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3009/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:3009-:d:350649

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().