Abstract
Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) are a major public health problem. NCDs can be prevented by reducing risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, sweetened beverage consumption, and inadequate physical activity. For a more effective solution, the ordinary NCDs treatment should be adopted, as well as the preventions of the NCDs risk factors. This study aimed to report the situ¬ation of NCD patients’ risk behaviors in Thailand. The secondary data from the 2015 National Health and Welfare Survey was adopted for analysis on NCD patients aged 15-65 years who had cardiovascu-lar disease, diabetes mellitus, cancer, or chronic respiratory disease. The study showed that risk be¬haviors in smoking (10.7%), alcohol consumption (16.8%), sweetened beverage consumption (51.34%) and inadequate physical activity (68.8%) were still occurring among NCD patients. The evaluation also suggested that while the male group had increased risk behaviors of smoking and alcohol consump¬tion than female group, however the latter had increased risk behavior of sweetened beverage con¬sumption and inadequate physical activity. By considering the socio-economic characteristics of the NCD patients, the study found that the majority of NCD patients consisted of ageing and adult workers in agricultural and low-skill industrial sectors, and those who lived in outer urban area. It was further noted that different economic status was not a significant factor in affecting the NCD risk behaviors. The findings confirmed that Thailand’s NCD patients had high risky health behaviors and health pro-motion activities were highly recommended for reversing these risks.
