Lifestyle behaviour and lifetime incidence of heart diseases

•Lifetime incidence of heart disease up to the age of 90 years was investigated in 1677 men.•Classified as coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart diseases of uncertain etiology (HDUE)•Smoking habits, physical activity and eating habits were related to incidence of heart diseases.•These behavioural factors were strong predictors of lifetime incidence of heart diseases.•This was so even adding other traditional risk factors.

ObjectivesInvestigate the relationship of some behavioural characteristics of a male population with lifetime incidence of heart diseases.Material and methodsIn the Italian Rural Areas of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases, 1677 heart disease-free men aged 40-59 years were followed up during 50 years for lifetime incidence of heart disease up to the age of 90 years. They were classified as coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart diseases of uncertain etiology (HDUE). Baseline cigarette smoking habits (non-smokers and ex-smokers, moderate smokers, heavy smokers), physical activity (sedentary, moderate, vigorous) and eating habits (non-Mediterranean Diet, Prudent Diet and Mediterranean Diet) were related to incidence of heart disease.ResultsIncidence of CHD and HDUE up to the age of 90 years was 28.8 and 17.7%, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed strong association of behavioural characteristics with CHD incidence, but not with HDUE incidence. Cox proportional hazard rates for CHD were 1.45 (95% confidence intervals, CI: 1.11-1.90) for heavy smokers versus non-smokers; 0.67 (CI 0.50-0.89) for vigorous activity versus sedentary habits and 0.62 (CI 0.47-0.83) for Mediterranean Diet versus non-Mediterranean Diet. Combining CHD cases with HDUE cases made the predictive picture similar to that of CHD. When some basic risk factors were added to the model results remained substantially unaltered, despite the existence of some correlations of behaviours with risk factors.ConclusionsBehavioural factors including cigarette smoking, physical activity and diet are strong predictors of lifetime incidence of common heart diseases even adding other traditional risk factors.