Lifestyle predictors of successful aging: A 20-year prospective HUNT study

Ingunn Bosnes; Hans Morten Nordahl; Eystein Stordal; Ole Bosnes; Tor Åge Myklebust; Ove Almkvist

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0219200

Lifestyle predictors of successful aging: A 20-year prospective HUNT study

PLoS One. 2019 Jul 11;14(7):e0219200. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219200. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Ingunn Bosnes^{1

2}, Hans Morten Nordahl^{3

4}, Eystein Stordal^{1

3}, Ole Bosnes¹, Tor Åge Myklebust⁵, Ove Almkvist^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Clinic for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, Namsos, Norway.
² Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
³ Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Division of Psychiatry, St. Olavs Hospital, Nidaros DPS, Trondheim, Norway.
⁵ Department of Research and Innovation, Møre and Romsdal Hospital Trust, Ålesund, Norway.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Department of Neurobiology Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

Background: Lifestyle factors predicting successful aging as a unified concept or as separate components of successful aging are important for understanding healthy aging, interventions and preventions. The main objective was to investigate the effect of midlife predictors on subsequent successful aging 20 years later.

Materials and methods: Data were from a population-based health survey, the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), with an average follow-up of 22.6 years. Individuals free of major disease at baseline in 1984-86 with complete datasets for the successful aging components in HUNT3 in 2006-08, were included (n = 4497; mean age at baseline 52.7, range 45-59, years). Successful aging was defined either as a unified category or as three components: being free of nine specified diseases and depression, having no physical or cognitive impairment, and being actively engaged with life. The midlife predictors (smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, obesity and social support) were analysed both as separate predictors and combined into a lifestyle index controlling for sociodemographic variables, using multivariable regression analysis.

Results: Successful aging as a unified concept was related to all the lifestyle factors in the unadjusted analyses, and all except alcohol consumption in the adjusted analyses. The individual components of successful aging were differently associated with the lifestyle factors; engagement with life was less associated with the lifestyle factors. Non- smoking and good social support were the most powerful predictors for successful aging as a unified concept. When the lifestyle factors were summed into a lifestyle index, there was a trend for more positive lifestyle to be related to higher odds for successful aging.

Conclusions: Lifestyle factors predicted an overall measure of SA, as well as the individual components, more than 20 years later. Modifiable risk factors in midlife, exemplified by social support, may be used for interventions to promote overall health and specific aspects of health in aging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging / physiology*
Alcohol Drinking / adverse effects
Exercise*
Female
Health Surveys
Healthy Aging / physiology*
Humans
Life Style
Logistic Models
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity / epidemiology*
Obesity / physiopathology
Risk Factors
Smoking / adverse effects

Grants and funding

This work is funded by a PhD scholarship from the Liaison Committee between the Central Norway Health Authority and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to IB. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.