A healthy lifestyle composite measure: Significance and potential uses

- We define a composite healthy lifestyle measure based on 5 behaviors.
- Components address smoking, fruits & vegetables, exercise, sleep, and alcohol use.
- Only 7.7% of US adults practice all 5 healthy behaviors.
- All or none measure provides new public health perspective.
- Best potential for improvement is by eating more fruits and vegetables.

ObjectivesOur objective was to create and explore potential uses of a composite “Healthy Lifestyle” measure based on Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) Objectives for behaviors shown to be associated with morbidity and mortality.MethodsData were from the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 412,942) on five modifiable behaviors with HP2020 Objectives (leisure time exercise, eating fruits and vegetables 5 or more times/day, getting ≥ 7 h of sleep/24 h, not smoking and not drinking excessively). These indicators were combined to form an all-or-none composite Healthy Lifestyle (HLS) measure. Associations between the HLS measure and demographic and other measures, plus details of component measures, were reported.ResultsResults indicated that only 7.7% of adults reported a HLS with wide variation among states and demographic groups. Both unadjusted and logistic regression results found associations between a HLS and better health, lower rates of chronic disease and better access to health care. Over one fourth of all respondents (28.0%) needed to only improve fruit and vegetable consumption to be practicing a HLS.ConclusionsIn conclusion, few adults were practicing five behaviors that are generally recognized as healthy. All-or-none metrics like this HLS measure offer a fresh perspective on modifiable behaviors and the need for improvement. Examination of measure components can help explain demographic differences and identify strategies for improvement.