The prevalence of the co-occurrence of risky behaviors and association with socioeconomic status in Iran: a latent class analysis

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to identify distinct population classes with different risk profiles using Latent Class Analysis (LCA) in Iran, as well as, to evaluate the association between various classes of risky behavior and Socio -Economic Status (SES) levels. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 860 participants in Tabriz, northwestern Iran from September to November 2023. The source population included clients who visited the Asadabadi Family Medicine Clinic. Data were collected using two standard self-report questionnaires. LCA was utilized to categorize the data. Twelve variables were utilized to determine the classes of risky behaviors. After considering the model selection indices, we found that the model with three latent classes was the most suitable. Multi-nominal logistic regression was employed to assess the association between risky behavior and SES. Results: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of the middle-risk class and high-risk class among the study population was 13% and 21%, respectively. Individuals with a very high SES were less likely to engage in multiple risky behavior classes compared to those with a low SES (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.59–0.97 and OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.48–1.29). Additionally, divorced participants (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.08–2.71 and 4.31,95% CI: 1.61–11.56). Conclusions: In the present study, the co-occurrence of risky behaviors was reported as 10 and 3 for the high-risk behavior class and the middle-risk behavior class, respectively. The findings suggest that prevention and treatment interventions aimed at modifying multiple high-risk behaviors should be integrated into the healthcare system, in addition to those focused on altering a single behavior. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that individuals with lower socioeconomic status are given higher priority in screening programs designed to identify high-risk behaviors.