Abstract P374: Healthy Lifestyle Factors Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Cardiovascular and Cancer Mortality in Older Men

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in the united states. Although individual healthy lifestyle behaviors have been associated with health benefits in middle-age adults, little is known about these factors and mortality in older adults. Objective: To assess the association between modifiable lifestyle factors and risk of CVD and cancer mortality in older men. Methods: We prospectively studied 8314 men aged 65 years and above from Physicians’ Health Study II. Baseline information on lifestyle factors was self-reported. We assessed healthy lifestyle factors as follows: Not smoking, BMI <25 kg/m2, vigorous exercise for at least 5 days a week, and healthy diet habit (assessed as being in the top 2 quintiles of the alternate healthy eating index-2010). We used COX regression analysis to calculate adjusted hazard ratios with 95% CI for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality. Results: After a mean follow up duration of 9 years, 443 participants died due to cardiovascular disease and 349 died due to cancer. Age adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) of cancer mortality was 0.73 (0.55-0.96), 0.58 (0.43-0.78), and 0.52 (0.36-0.75) for people with one, two, and 3+ healthy lifestyle factors, respectively, compared to people adhering to zero healthy lifestyle factor. Corresponding values for CVD mortality hazard ratios (95% CI) were 1.01 (0.78-1.32), 0.70 (0.53- 0.93), and 0.73 (0.53-1.01), respectively. Conclusion: Adhering to healthy lifestyle behaviors is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular and cancer mortality in older men.