Combined impact of health behaviours and mortality in men and women

Background: There is overwhelming evidence that behavioural factors influence health, but their combined impact on the general population is less well documented. We aimed to quantify the potential combined impact of four health behaviours on mortality in men and women living in the general community.
Conclusions: Four health behaviours combined predict a 4-fold difference in total mortality in men and women, with an estimated impact equivalent to 14 y in chronological age.
Funding: EPIC-Norfolk is supported by programme grants from Medical Research Council and Cancer Research United Kingdom with additional support from the Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation, Research Into Ageing, and the Academy of Medical Science. The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.