Health risk behaviors and their relationships to health care utilization among veterans receiving primary medical care

This paper reports the findings of a behavioral health risk screening form and examines the interrelationships among behavioral risk factors and healt h care utilization. Participants were 1,000 veterans who completed a brief self-report questionnaire assessing affective distress and behavioral healt h risk factors while they waited to see their primary care provider. Partic ipants reported a mean level of affective distress in the mild range on a s cale of 0 to 20 (M = 6.4 SD = 4.95), and 22.4% reported moderate or high le vels of affective distress. Fifty percent of the sample denied alcohol use; 5% of the men and none of the women reported a pattern of use that met est ablished criteria for at-risk drinking. Twenty-six percent of the sample re ported current tobacco use, 45% acknowledged concerns about diet and/or wei ght, and 54% reported concern about pain. These factors were largely signif icantly intercorrelated and several were related to indices of health care utilization. Ir was concluded that veterans receiving health care in primar y care settings report significant levels of affective distress and other h ealth risk behaviors and that the presence of these factors is associated w ith increased use of the health care system. These data encourage increased efforts to identify these factors and to develop behavior change intervent ions.