Adherence to a healthy lifestyle and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Chinese adults: a 10-year prospective study of 0.5 million people

• Published in: The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity 2019-11, Vol.16 (1), p.98-13, Article 98
• Main Authors: Zhu, Nanbo, Yu, Canqing, Guo, Yu, Bian, Zheng, Han, Yuting, Yang, Ling, Chen, Yiping, Du, Huaidong, Li, Huimei, Liu, Fang, Chen, Junshi, Chen, Zhengming, Lv, Jun, Li, Liming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adults; Aged; Alcohols; Cancer; Cancer research; Cardiovascular diseases; China; Chinese; Cohort study; Death; Diet; Drinking (Alcoholic beverages); Exercise; Female; Health; Health aspects; Healthy Lifestyle; Heart diseases; Humans; Ischemia; Legumes; Lung diseases; Male; Medical research; Middle Aged; Mortality; Non-communicable diseases; Noncommunicable Diseases - mortality; Patient Compliance; Prospective Studies; Retirement benefits; Smoking cessation; Stroke
• ISSN: 1479-5868; 1479-5868
• DOI: 10.1186/s12966-019-0860-z

Adherence to a healthy lifestyle is associated with substantially lower risks of mortality from all causes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer in white populations. However, little is known about the health benefits among non-white populations. Also, no previous studies have focused on respiratory disease mortality in both white and non-white populations. We assessed the relationships between a combination of healthy lifestyle factors and multiple death outcomes in Chinese adults. This study included 487,198 adults aged 30-79 years from the China Kadoorie Biobank without heart disease, stroke, and cancer at study enrolment. We defined five healthy lifestyle factors as never smoking or smoking cessation not due to illness; non-daily drinking or moderate alcohol drinking; median or higher level of physical activity; a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes and fish, and limited in red meat; a body mass index of 18.5 to 27.9 kg/m and a waist circumference