ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Int J Public Health

Volume 70 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/ijph.2025.1607794

This article is part of the Call for papersTHE HEALTH OF DISPLACED PEOPLE: A CHALLENGE FOR EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTHView all 5 articles

Detrimental changes to individual health promoting behaviors among internally displaced Israelis

Naomi Fliss IsakovNaomi Fliss Isakov1,2*Miri Levi-ShaharMiri Levi-Shahar3Yulia BalmakovYulia Balmakov4Ranaa Mahajni YounisRanaa Mahajni Younis1Ronit EndeveltRonit Endevelt1,5Moran Blaychfeld MagnaziMoran Blaychfeld Magnazi1
  • 1Ministry of Health (Israel), Jerusalem, Israel
  • 2Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 3Efrata Collage of Education, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 4Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
  • 5University of Haifa, Haifa, Haifa, Israel

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Objectives: Israel has recently forcibly internally displaced more than 200,000 people from their homes, and into hotels or apartments away from their livelihood, education and social structure. Our study aimed to identify immediate and late shifts in health promoting behaviors among this population.Methods: Two online surveys (immediately and late into the war), assessing demographics, displacement details, health promoting behavior and body-weight before and throughout the war. Displaced responders were compared to non-displaced responders regarding their reported lifestyle behaviors during the war. Univariate and multivariate analysis using the logistic regression analysis was used.Results: A total of 997 and 153 participants answered the first and second survey respectively. A statistically significant decrease in diet quality (P<0.001) and physical activity (PA) frequency (P=0.016), and a significant increase in diet quantity (P<0.001) and body weight (P=0.001) were reported among displaced individuals, compared to nondisplaced individuals. Staying with young children, and a pre-war healthy lifestyle were independently protective against a detrimental lifestyle change (OR=0.46, 95%CI 0.28-0.76 and OR=0.63, 95%CI 0.40-0.97 respectively), while staying in a hotel, or an apartment were risk-factors (OR=2.40, 95%CI 1.30-4.43 and

Keywords: Health Promotion, Obesity, Healthy lifestyle, Armed Conflicts, Displaced population

Received: 21 Jul 2024; Accepted: 08 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Fliss Isakov, Levi-Shahar, Balmakov, Mahajni Younis, Endevelt and Blaychfeld Magnazi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Naomi Fliss Isakov, Ministry of Health (Israel), Jerusalem, Israel

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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