A healthy lifestyle may allow older people to live longer, with women adding three years and men six to their life expectancy, suggests research published in the BMJ. Also, most of those years may be free of dementia. More than 6 million Americans over the age of 65 have the most common type of dementia, Alzheimer’s, for which there is no cure.
The study found that, at age 65, women with the healthiest lifestyles had an average life expectancy of about 24 years, compared to 21 years for women whose lifestyles were considered less healthy. The life expectancy of the men with the healthiest lifestyle was 23 years, compared to 17 years for the least healthy men.
The findings come from research involving 2,449 people aged 65 and older who were part of the Chicago Health and Aging Project, which first enrolled participants in 1993.
The current researchers developed a healthy lifestyle scoring system for their participants that encompassed five factors: diet, cognitive activity, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol use. People were awarded one point for each area if they met healthy standards, yielding a final total score of 0 to 5, with higher scores indicating a healthier lifestyle.
In terms of living with dementia, those with a score of 4 or 5 healthy factors at age 65 lived with Alzheimer’s for a smaller proportion of their remaining years than those with a score of 0 or 1. For women, the difference for those with a healthier lifestyle it was having Alzheimer’s during 11 percent of their later years versus 19 percent of those with a less healthy lifestyle; for men, it was 6 percent of the time remaining versus 12 percent.
The researchers concluded that “prolonged life expectancy due to a healthy lifestyle is not accompanied by a greater number of years living with Alzheimer’s dementia,” but rather “a greater proportion of remaining years lived without Alzheimer’s dementia.” .
This article is part of The Post’s “Big Number” series, which takes a brief look at the statistical side of health problems. Additional information and relevant research is available through the hyperlinks.
Source: www.washingtonpost.com