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.

Keywords:

• nutrition
• physical activity
• students
• cancer prevention

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study is part of a research project which received the ethical approval (120/6.03.2015) of the Ethics Board of University of Medicine and Pharmacy from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Students who did not want to participate did not fill in the anonymous questionnaire.

Author Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; agreed to submit to the current journal; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflict of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.