Positive Health Online

Abstract

KHAW and COLLEAGUES,  Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, United Kingdom. kk101@medschl.cam.ac.uk  quantified the potential impact of 4 health behaviours upon mortality of healthy men and women.

Background

There is overwhelming evidence that behavioural factors influence health, but their combined impact on the general population is less well documented. The authors aimed to quantify the potential combined impact of four health behaviours on mortality in men and women living in the general community.

Methodology

The authors examined the prospective relationship between lifestyle and mortality in a prospective population study of 20,244 men and women aged 45-79 years with no known cardiovascular disease or cancer at baseline survey in 1993-1997, living in the general community in the United Kingdom, and followed up to 2006. Participants scored one point for each health behaviour: current non-smoking, not physically inactive, moderate alcohol intake (1-14 units a week) and plasma vitamin C >50 mmol/l indicating fruit and vegetable intake of at least five servings a day, for a total score ranging from zero to four.

Results

After an average 11 y follow-up, the age-, sex-, body mass-, and social class-adjusted relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for all-cause mortality(1,987 deaths) for men and women who had three, two, one, and zero compared to four health behaviours were respectively, 1.39 (1.21-1.60), 1.95 (1.70--2.25), 2.52 (2.13-3.00), and 4.04 (2.95-5.54) p < 0.001 trend. The relationships were consistent in subgroups stratified by sex, age, body mass index, and social class, and after excluding deaths within 2 years. The trends were strongest for cardiovascular causes. The mortality risk for those with four compared to zero health behaviours was equivalent to being 14 y younger in chronological age.

Conclusion

Four health behaviours combined predict a 4-fold difference in total mortality in men and women, with an estimated impact equivalent to 14 years in chronological age.

References

Khaw KT,  Wareham N,  Bingham S,  Welch A,  Luben R and Day N. Combined impact of health behaviours and mortality in men and women: the EPIC-Norfolk prospective population study.[see comment][erratum appears in PLoS Med. 18;5(3):e70]. Mar 2008. Comment in: PLoS Med.;5(1):e15; PMID: 18184034. Jan 8 2008. Source  PLoS Medicine / Public Library of Science.  5(1):e12, Jan 8 2008.  Source: NLM. PMC2174962.

Comment

The results of this study ought to be made known far and wide. By not smoking, by ingesting 5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day, by not being physically inactive and having a moderate alcohol intake, there is a 4-fold (400%) decrease in risk of dying compared to individuals not undertaking any of these 4 behaviours, which is equivalent to being 14 years younger in age.