Healthy lifestyle key to "successful aging"

Last Updated: 2008-06-18 10:52:41 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A good diet, exercise and other health- conscious habits can help adults remain free of disease and disability as they age, regardless of their income or education level, a UK study suggests.

In a long-term follow-up of British government employees, researchers found that "socioeconomic position" in either early or mid-life affected the odds of healthy aging. However, lifestyle habits were also important, regardless of social position.

The findings suggest that lifestyle and other modifiable factors can help counter social disparities in health and longevity, lead researcher Dr. Annie Britton told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues at University College London report the findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The results come from a 17-year study of some 10,000 London civil service workers who were 44 years old, on average, and free of major diseases at the outset. About 5800 participants were included in the current analysis.

At the start of the study, the workers were asked about their fathers' social class and their own education level so that the researchers could gauge their "socioeconomic position" earlier in life. They were also surveyed about their current lifestyle habits and day-to-day stress levels.

Seventeen years later, roughly 13 percent of men and 15 percent of women were found to be "successfully aging" -- meaning they were free of major illnesses and had good physical and mental functioning.

The odds of successful aging did depend to some degree on social position, the study found. Men and women who'd had higher-level, higher-paying jobs in middle-age were more likely to remain healthy than lower-level employees were.

Similarly, workers' social position early in life was related to the odds of successful aging, independent of their job and income in middle-age.

However, lifestyle and stress levels in middle-age were also key, irrespective of socioeconomics, Britton's team found.

Men and women who ate a healthy diet, avoided smoking and got regular exercise were more likely to remain free of disease and disability. For men, social support at work -- a buffer against job stress -- was related to better long-term health. For women, moderate alcohol consumption appeared beneficial.

The results, according to Britton's team, suggest that lifestyle changes can lessen the health effects of factors that are difficult to change, like occupation and income.

"A focus on health behaviors," they write, "might also have the consequence of reducing social inequalities in health at older ages."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, June 2008.