Assessment of lifestyle in relation to health

Abstract

Habits relevant to health include physical activities, diet, smoking, drinking and drug consumption. Despite the fact that benefits of modifying lifestyle are increasingly demonstrated in clinical and general populations, assessment of lifestyle and therapeutic lifestyle changes is neglected in practice. In this review, associations between unhealthy lifestyle and health outcomes are presented. Particular emphasis will be placed on description and discussion of the standardized assessment instruments and behavioral methods that could be used in clinical practice to measure lifestyles.