Assessment of health-promoting lifestyle in medical students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2014

Background: Health-promoting lifestyle is one of the determination criteria for health factors and the prevention of health-threatening factors. According to the available statistics, 53% of deaths are related to lifestyle. The aim of this study was to evaluate health-promoting lifestyles in medical students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS), Rafsanjan, Iran. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive study conducted in 2014 on 262 volunteer medical students. To collect data, a demographic information questionnaire and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) were used. Minimum and maximum scores of HPLP-II were 48 and 192, respectively. Data analysis was conducted using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Tukeyʹs multiple comparison test, and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: In this study, 58.8% of the participants were women. The mean age of the participants was 22.50 ± 2.16 years. The mean and standard deviation of the HPLP-II score of the medical students was 109.74 ± 18.65. There was a significant relationship between health-promoting lifestyle and variables of age (P = 0.007), university entrance year (P < 0.001), mother’s education level (P = 0.003), and father’s education level (P = 0.011). However, no relationship was observed between health-promoting lifestyle and parental occupation and place of residence (P > 0.050). Conclusions: This study showed that the status of health-promoting lifestyles in medical students of RUMS was at a moderate level, but it is still at a great distance to the optimal level. Therefore, it is necessary to implement programs to promote a healthy lifestyle in order to maintain health in the youth until graduation.