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The article provides information on a study which examined the association between lifestyle factors and incident mobility limitation in obese and non-obese older adults. The authors examined data from men and women participating in the Health, Aging and Body Composition study in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Four lifestyle factors were analyzed, which include smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity and diet.

Objective: This article addresses the association between course of chronic disease and lifestyle. Method: We examined differences in unhealthy lifestyles--smoking, excessive alcohol use, being sedentary--and transitions herein after 6 years in prevalent and incident chronic disease categories--lung and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis and/or rheumatic arthritis--among 2,184 respondents aged 55 years and older from the Netherlands. We also examined if transitions in lifestyle co-occurred with changes in disease-related symptomatology. Results: Proportions of respondents who smoked decreased over time, whereas proportions of respondents who were sedentary increased. Respondents with incident cardiovascular disease demonstrated more lifestyle transitions than respondents from other disease categories. Respondents demonstrating healthy lifestyle transitions did not differ from those persisting in unhealthy lifestyles in change in disease-related symptoms. Discussion: Health promotion may benefit from these findings in a way that patient groups at risk for not initiating healthy lifestyles might be identified sooner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined whether healthy lifestyles are associated with absence of depressed mood. Methods. A sample of 1169 adult participants in the Maastricht Aging Study provided baseline and 6-year follow-up data on smoking, alcohol use, physical exercise, body mass index, and mood. We examined associations between lifestyles and depressed mood using longitudinal analyses controlling for baseline depressive symptoms and covariates. Results. Reports of excessive alcohol use at baseline predicted depressed mood at follow-up (relative risk [RR]=2.48; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.08, 5.69), and reports of more than 30 minutes of physical exercise per day at baseline were associated with an absence of depressed mood at follow-up (RR=0.52; 95% CI=0.29, 0.92). Reports of being engaged in physical exercise throughout the 6-year follow-up period were also associated with absence of depressed mood (RR=0.56; 95% CI=0.34, 0.93). Conclusions. In this relatively healthy population sample, certain lifestyles either predicted or protected against depressed mood. Adopting or maintaining healthy lifestyles might be a starting point in preventing or treating depressed mood over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines whether depressed mood is associated with unhealthy lifestyles in late middle aged and older people, with or without chronic somatic diseases. Relationship between depression and smoking behavior; Information on depression; Effect of depression on physical activity.