Clustering of Multiple Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Health-Related Quality of Life among US Adults with Diabetes

Abstract

OBJECTIVE -- We sought to examine the association between clustering of multiple healthy lifestyle habits (HLHs) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among adults with diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -- We analyzed the representative sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalized US population aged ≥18 years with diabetes using data from the 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (n = 16,428). Four HRQOL measures were general health rating, physically unhealthy days, mentally unhealthy days, and impaired activity days. Three HLHs included not smoking, engaging in adequate leisure-time physical activity, and consuming ≥5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

RESULTS -- The proportion of having 0, 1, 2, and 3 HLHs was 10.5%, 44.7%, 32.9%, and 11.9%, respectively. The age-adjusted prevalence rates of poor or fair health, ≥14 physically unhealthy days, ≥14 mentally unhealthy days, ≥14 impaired activity days were 43.07%, 27.61%, 17.22%, and 18.87%, respectively. After adjustment for potential confounders and compared to those with none of the 3 HLHs, people with all 3 HLHs were less likely to report poor or fair health (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 0.72), ≥14 physically unhealthy days (AOR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.82), ≥14 mentally unhealthy days (AOR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.55), or ≥14 impaired activity days (AOR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.57).

CONCLUSIONS -- Accumulation of multiple HLHs was significantly associated with better HRQOL among people with diabetes.