Healthy lifestyle and life expectancy in people with multimorbidity in the UK Biobank: A longitudinal cohort study.

Background

Whether a healthy lifestyle impacts longevity in the presence of multimorbidity is unclear. We investigated the associations between healthy lifestyle and life expectancy in people with and without multimorbidity.

Methods and findings

A total of 480,940 middle-aged adults (median age of 58 years [range 38–73], 46% male, 95% white) were analysed in the UK Biobank; this longitudinal study collected data between 2006 and 2010, and participants were followed up until 2016. We extracted 36 chronic conditions and defined multimorbidity as 2 or more conditions. Four lifestyle factors, based on national guidelines, were used: leisure-time physical activity, smoking, diet, and alcohol consumption. A combined weighted score was developed and grouped participants into 4 categories: very unhealthy, unhealthy, healthy, and very healthy. Survival models were applied to predict life expectancy, adjusting for ethnicity, working status, deprivation, body mass index, and sedentary time. A total of 93,746 (19.5%) participants had multimorbidity. During a mean follow-up of 7 (range 2–9) years, 11,006 deaths occurred. At 45 years, in men with multimorbidity an unhealthy score was associated with a gain of 1.5 (95% confidence interval [CI] −0.3 to 3.3; P = 0.102) additional life years compared to very unhealthy score, though the association was not significant, whilst a healthy score was significantly associated with a gain of 4.5 (3.3 to 5.7; P < 0.001) life years and a very healthy score with 6.3 (5.0 to 7.7; P < 0.001) years. Corresponding estimates in women were 3.5 (95% CI 0.7 to 6.3; P = 0.016), 6.4 (4.8 to 7.9; P < 0.001), and 7.6 (6.0 to 9.2; P < 0.001) years. Results were consistent in those without multimorbidity and in several sensitivity analyses. For individual lifestyle factors, no current smoking was associated with the largest survival benefit. The main limitations were that we could not explore the consistency of our results using a more restrictive definition of multimorbidity including only cardiometabolic conditions, and participants were not representative of the UK as a whole.

Conclusions

In this analysis of data from the UK Biobank, we found that regardless of the presence of multimorbidity, engaging in a healthier lifestyle was associated with up to 6.3 years longer life for men and 7.6 years for women; however, not all lifestyle risk factors equally correlated with life expectancy, with smoking being significantly worse than others.

Author summary

Why was this study done?

People with multimorbidity (presence of 2 or more chronic conditions) have poorer health outcomes and a higher mortality risk compared to people without multimorbidity.

A healthy lifestyle has been associated with a longer life expectancy. To our knowledge, no study to date has investigated this relationship in relation to the presence of multimorbidity.

Most studies used a combined score that did not account for the differential impact of each lifestyle factor on the risk of death.

What did the researchers do and find?

We investigated the association between healthy lifestyle and individual risk factors with life expectancy in relation to the presence of multimorbidity.

We found that an overall healthy lifestyle largely counterbalances the negative association between multimorbidity and life expectancy.

What do these findings mean?

A healthier lifestyle is consistently associated with a longer life expectancy across various individual risks and irrespective of the presence of multiple long-term medical conditions.

Public health recommendations about a healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of developing chronic long-term conditions equally apply to individuals who have already multimorbidity.