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A simple lifestyle score predicts survival in healthy elderly men
Carole A Spencer1, Konrad Jamrozik, Paul E Norman
1School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Clifton St, Nedlands, Western Australia 6907, Australia.
Background:
Although improvements in life expectancy have been attributed in part to the adoption of a more prudent lifestyle, few studies have examined the association of lifestyle with survival, using several lifestyle factors simultaneously, in a healthy elderly population.
Methods:
We investigated the association of health related behaviors with mortality in 7989 men aged 65 to 83 years participating in a population-based trial in Perth, Western Australia, by calculating a lifestyle score as a simple tally of how many of eight prudent behaviors each individual followed.
Results:
Invitations to screening produced a corrected response of 70.5%. Out of a possible score of 8, 46% of men had a score of less than 5. Within 5 years, a total of 703 men (9%) had died from any cause. The hazard ratio in men with a low lifestyle score was 1.3 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1-1.5] compared with men with a score of 5 or more.
Conclusions:
Lifestyle remains an important predictor of mortality even in old age. Survival in older men without a history of cardiovascular disease can potentially be enhanced by promoting a healthy lifestyle.
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