Relationship of health practices and mortality

This paper explores the relationship of a number of personal health practices and mortality in the 512 years after a survey made in Alameda County, California in 1965. Age-adjusted mortality rates were higher for men, for persons reporting disability, and for those with inadequate incomes. The individual health practices, smoking, weight in relation to desirable standards for height, drinking, hours of sleep, regularity of meals, and physical activity, were related to mortality in the expected direction. When accumulated to form a health practice score from 0 to 7, the number of health practices showed a striking inverse relationship with mortality rates, especially for men. This relationship was independent of income level and physical health status. The age-specific death rates by number of health practices were used to develop a life table. The average life expectancy of men aged 45 who reported six or seven “good” practices was more than 11 years more than that of men reporting fewer than four. For women the relationship between health practices and mortality was less strong, and the difference between the life expectancy at age 45 for those who reported six or seven, and those who reported fewer than four, was 7 years.