PLoS ONE (Jan 2014)

Association between lifestyle factors and quality-adjusted life years in the EPIC-NL cohort.

  • Heidi P Fransen,
  • Anne M May,
  • Joline W J Beulens,
  • Ellen A Struijk,
  • G Ardine de Wit,
  • Jolanda M A Boer,
  • N Charlotte Onland-Moret,
  • Jeljer Hoekstra,
  • Yvonne T van der Schouw,
  • H Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita,
  • Petra H M Peeters

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111480
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 11
p. e111480

Abstract

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The aim of our study was to relate four modifiable lifestyle factors (smoking status, body mass index, physical activity and diet) to health expectancy, using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) in a prospective cohort study. Data of the prospective EPIC-NL study were used, including 33,066 healthy men and women aged 20-70 years at baseline (1993-7), followed until 31-12-2007 for occurrence of disease and death. Smoking status, body mass index, physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet (excluding alcohol) were investigated separately and combined into a healthy lifestyle score, ranging from 0 to 4. QALYs were used as summary measure of healthy life expectancy, combining a person's life expectancy with a weight for quality of life when having a chronic disease. For lifestyle factors analyzed separately the number of years living longer in good health varied from 0.12 year to 0.84 year, after adjusting for covariates. A combination of the four lifestyle factors was positively associated with higher QALYs (P-trend <0.0001). A healthy lifestyle score of 4 compared to a score of 0 was associated with almost a 2 years longer life in good health (1.75 QALYs [95% CI 1.37, 2.14]).