The odds of reporting fair or poor health status increase significantly with the addition of unhealthy behaviors (Table 4). Adults with one unhealthy behavior are two times more likely to report fair or poor health status compared with adults exhibiting no unhealthy behaviors, while adults with all five unhealthy behaviors are 8.7 times more likely to report fair or poor health status compared with adults with none of the unhealthy behaviors analyzed.
Adults with MUBs* are 6.1 times more likely to report fair or poor health status at the national level compared with adults with zero of the included unhealthy behaviors (Table 4).
Table 4 - Odds Ratios for Fair or Poor Health Status by Number of Unhealthy Behaviors
The association between each of the unhealthy behaviors and self-reported fair or poor health status was evaluated in a multivariable logistic regression model. All five unhealthy behaviors were significantly associated with self-reported fair or poor health status. For instance, the odds of self-reporting fair or poor health status among smokers was 1.8 (controlling for other unhealthy behaviors). See Appendix 2 for individual behavior odds ratios and additional discussion and Appendix 3 for related research on unhealthy behaviors and poor health status.
