Prognostic Factors for the Risky Behaviors of High School Students That Can Lead to the Leading Causes of Death Among Youths and Tomorrow’s Adults

Objectives. Are ethnic Hispanic high school students more likely to fight, use drugs, smoke and drink alcohol, have more attempted suicide and sexual intercourse abuse, and are more underweight than other ethnic populations? Background. The YRBS System focuses on specific health-risk behaviors of young people, to determine the prevalence and age of initiation of health-risk behaviors, assess trends, compare national, state and local data, and monitor progress toward Healthy People 2015 objectives and National Education Goals. CDC published in 2002 the leading causes of death among youth and adults (National YRBSS 2001 data, and 1999 mortality data) reporting the following six health risk behaviors: unintentional injuries and violence, alcohol and other drug use, sexual behaviors, tobacco use, dietary behaviors and physical activity. Compared to the National distribution, Florida leads in physical activity, sexual and dietary behaviors and slightly in unintentional injuries and violence. Methods. This study assesses the prognostic factors for fight, suicide attempt, sexual intercourse abuse and weight status, considered to lead to 5 leading cause of death in U.S. The weighted data of Youth Risk Behavior Survey System from the School Board of Broward County, Florida were used during a period of 13 years with new collected data every other year (1991-2003). Results. New prognostic factors that are significantly associated to the youth health-behaviors were found. These factors vary from one outcome to another, and sometimes a correlation of several outcomes was observed. For each outcome several prognostic models were found to be significant. Mostly, the demographic characteristics were found to be effect modifiers, and therefore several independent prognostic models were built accordingly. Odds ratios were reported as measure of associations that approximate the relative risks, based on logistic models. The prediction probability was also computed for all the models. Conclusion. The findings can reveal new hypotheses for community and school intervention that improve health and protect against risk factors of death in Broward County. Grants. Broward School Board support.