Published in:
01-09-2019
Combined Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Disability-Free Survival: the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 9/2019
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Background
Previous studies have suggested that a healthy lifestyle (HL) may prolong the years of life spent in good health. However, the impact of HL on disability-free survival (DFS) among the elderly is still uncertain.
Objective
To investigate the relationship between HL and DFS in the general elderly population.
Design
Prospective cohort study with a 10-year follow-up (2006–2016).
Participants
9910 community-dwelling elderly people (≥ 65 years).
Main Measures
A HL index derived by summing the number of HL behaviors. Data on incident disability were retrieved from the public Long-term Care Insurance database. Multivariate-adjusted 50th percentile differences (PDs) in age at disability or death (months) and their 95% CIs were estimated with the Laplace regression model.
Key Results
During the 10 years, 4562 disability or death events occurred. Participants who adhered to all three HL behaviors lived 17.1 (95% CI 12.7, 21.5) months longer without disability than those who adhered to zero or one. Each 1-point increase of the index score conferred 8.8 months additional life without disability. The tendency for the 50th PDs to increase with a higher HL index score did not differ according to age (< 75 or ≥ 75 years), sex, or the presence of chronic conditions (none, or ≥ 1 chronic condition).
Conclusions
A combination of HL behaviors may substantially increase DFS, even for late-elderly (≥ 75 years), or elderly people with chronic conditions.