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Healthy Lifestyle and Likelihood of Becoming a Centenarian
Quick Takes
- Adherence to a healthy lifestyle improves longevity, even at a very advanced age.
- In a cohort of ≥80 year olds, individuals with the highest healthy lifestyle scores were more likely to reach 100 years old than matched counterparts with lower scores.
- The most beneficial components of a healthy lifestyle may vary at different stages of life.
Study Questions:
What is the association between modifiable lifestyle factors and the likelihood of becoming a centenarian in individuals aged ≥80 years?
Methods:
Data were used from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, employing a community-based, prospective nested case-control design, targeting individuals who had the potential to reach age 100 years or older by 2018. The centenarians were cases and those who died before age 100 years were matched controls (matched by age, sex, and year on entry). A healthy lifestyle score (HLS) was developed from traditional lifestyle components affecting health and longevity (smoking status, alcohol use, exercise, dietary diversity, and body mass index [BMI]), and from that, a reconstructed HLS was developed that included only components significantly associated with higher odds of becoming a centenarian (HLS-100: smoking status, exercise, and dietary diversity) in an advanced-aged cohort.
Results:
A total of 5,222 participants (1,454 centenarians; 3,223 women) were in the final case-control analysis. A higher HLS score was associated with a higher likelihood of becoming a centenarian in a dose-response manner. No association was observed with any single lifestyle component. However, never smoking, current exercise, and more diverse diet were most associated with surviving to 100 years old in an advanced-aged population; alcohol use and BMI did not appear to have an association. HLS-100 scores were not affected by sex, age, residence (urban or rural), educational background, or marital status.
Conclusions:
In this nested case-control study of people aged ≥80 years, a healthier lifestyle score was associated with a higher likelihood of becoming a centenarian, particularly never smoking, current exercising, and diverse diet. Less significant indicators were alcohol use and BMI. This emphasizes the importance of adherence of a healthy lifestyle for improved health outcomes even at an advanced age.
Perspective:
Adherence to a healthy lifestyle at any age is associated with improved health outcomes. This study is unusual in that it targeted people aged ≥80 years to demonstrate that lifestyle behaviors at an advanced age can impact healthy aging and longevity. Therefore, interventional strategies emphasizing lifestyle improvement, even in advanced-aged populations, are likely to be beneficial.
Clinical Topics: Cardiovascular Care Team, Geriatric Cardiology, Prevention
Keywords: Geriatrics, Healthy Lifestyle
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