Co-occurrence of Health Risk Behaviours for Communicable and Non-communicable Diseases among Undergraduates in a Tertiary Institution in South West Nigeria

Co-occurrence of behaviours that are risk factors for communicable and non-communicable diseases have been reported among young people around the world. However, limited information exist on such co-occurrence among young undergraduates in Nigeria. This study therefore sort to evaluate the prevalence of co-occurrence of health risk behaviours for communicable and non-communicable diseases among undergraduates in a tertiary institution in South West Nigeria as well as identify gender differences and the different patterns of clustering of the selected health risk behaviours. Alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking were selected as risk factors for non-communicable diseases, while having multiple sexual partners and non-condom use were selected as risk factors for sexually transmitted communicable diseases. A cross-sectional design was employed to obtain data from six hundred undergraduates of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile – Ife, Nigeria. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The mean age of the respondents was 20 ± 4.0 years. The prevalence of current indulgence in alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, having multiple sexual partners and non–condom use were 50.3%, 19.2%, 24.7%, and 28.5% respectively. Overall, the prevalence of no risk, one risk, and at least two health risk behaviours were: 36.16%; 24.33%;and 39.49% respectively. Eleven clusters of co-occurring health risk behaviours were identified and more males were found in each cluster than females. However, the cluster with the highest prevalence was alcohol drinking and non-condom use (8.8%). This study reports a high prevalence of co-occurrence of health risk behaviours for communicable and non-communicable diseases among young undergraduates. This may have implication for health promotion and education among young people.