Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug;31(7):1297-1314.
doi: 10.1177/0898264318774430. Epub 2018 May 29.

A Healthy Lifestyle in Old Age and Prospective Change in Four Domains of Functioning

Marjolein Visser  1   2 , Hanneke A H Wijnhoven  1 , Hannie C Comijs  2   3 , Fleur G C F Thomése  1 , Jos W R Twisk  2 , Dorly J H Deeg  2
Affiliations

A Healthy Lifestyle in Old Age and Prospective Change in Four Domains of Functioning

Marjolein Visser et al. J Aging Health. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this article is to study the associations between healthy lifestyle in old age and decline in physical, psychological, cognitive, and social functioning. Method: A population-based sample of 3,107 Dutch men and women aged 55 and 85 years (1992/1993; Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam) was used with five 3-yeary follow-up examinations. Lifestyle score, based on smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI), ranged from 0 (unhealthy) to 4 (healthy). Outcomes included gait speed, depressive symptoms, cognitive status, and social contacts. Results: Persons with a healthy lifestyle had a 10.6% slower decline in gait speed (0.04 m/s, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.03, 0.05]), 10.8% slower increase in depressive symptoms (-1.07 [-1.70, -0.44]), a 1.8% slower decline in cognitive functioning (0.47 [0.23, 0.70]), and a 4.9% slower decline in social contacts (0.58 [0.01, 1.15]) compared with persons with no or one healthy lifestyle factor. Discussion: A healthy lifestyle benefits physical, psychological, cognitive, and social functioning up to very old age.

Keywords: cognitive functioning; older adults; physical functioning; psychological functioning; social functioning.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Associations between the number of healthy lifestyle factors and 3-year decline in four domains of functioning during 16 years of follow-up: The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Note. Standardized coefficients are presented to allow a direct comparison between the functioning domains. Adjusted for baseline functioning, sex, baseline age, time, education level, partner in household, number of chronic diseases, and self-rated health. CESD = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression; MMSE = mini mental state examination.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Baltes P. B., Baltes M. M. (Eds.). (1990). Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
    1. Beekman A. T., Deeg D. J., van Limbeek J., Braam A. W., De Vries M. Z., Van Tilburg W. (1997). Criterion validity of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D): Results from a community-based sample of older subjects in the Netherlands. Psychological Medicine, 27, 231-235. - PubMed
    1. Beekman A. T., Deeg D. J., van Tilburg T., Smit J. H., Hooijer C., van Tilburg W. (1995). Major and minor depression in later life: A study of prevalence and risk factors. Journal of Affective Disorders, 36, 65-75. - PubMed
    1. Bots S., Tijhuis M., Giampaoli S., Kromhout D., Nissinen A. (2008). Lifestyle- and diet-related factors in late-life depression—A 5-year follow-up of elderly European men: The FINE study. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 478-484. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016). Smoking & tobacco use: Trends in current cigarette smoking among high school students and adults, United States, 1965–2014. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/tables/trends/cig_smoking/ind...

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources