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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Am J Prev Med. 2022 Mar 28;63(1):33–42. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.01.027

Table 1.

Participant Characteristics at Baseline According to the Number of Low-Risk Lifestyle Factors

Variable Healthy Lifestyle Score including sleep duration
None 1 2 3 4 5 6
Nurses’ Health Study (1986)
 n (%) 1,282 (1.9) 8,808 (13.1) 20,133 (29.9) 20,763 (30.8) 11,717 (17.4) 3,861 (5.7) 686 (1.02)
 Age, years 45.4 (6.6) 46.3 (7) 46.3 (7.1) 46.2 (7.3) 46.6 (7.2) 46.7 (7) 46.7 (7)
 BMI, kg/m2 29.5 (4.3) 28.6 (5.3) 26.8 (5.1) 24.5 (4.1) 23.2 (2.9) 22.4 (2) 22 (1.6)
 AHEI 40.8 (6.9) 41.4 (7.8) 43.5 (9.1) 47.3 (10.5) 52.5 (10.4) 57.4 (8.7) 60.5 (6.7)
 Physical activity, hours/week 0.4 (0.7) 0.6 (1.2) 1 (2.1) 1.8 (3.1) 3.4 (4.3) 5.6 (4.7) 7.6 (4.9)
 Alcohol intake, g/day 6.3 (14.5) 5.7 (12.7) 5.6 (11.5) 5.9 (10) 7.2 (9.2) 8.2 (8) 9.6 (2.9)
 Sleep, hours/day 5.4 (1.1) 5.6 (1.1) 6 (1) 6.1 (0.8) 6.2 (0.7) 6.3 (0.6) 6.3 (0.5)
 Smoking, current% 100.0 45.9 25.5 12.6 6.0 2.1 0.0
 White, % 97.2 97.2 97.8 97.9 98.3 98.3 99.4
 Multivitamin use, % 33.1 36.9 39.8 43.6 47.7 50.5 52.8
 Aspirin use, % 61.2 67.6 68.3 67.8 67.8 66.4 68.1
 Baseline high blood pressure, % 22.4 21.9 18.6 14.9 11.8 10.8 7.9
 Baseline high blood cholesterol, % 15.4 13.9 13.7 12.4 12.3 11.8 12.6
 Baseline diabetes, % 7.7 6.5 5.0 3.2 2.1 1.1 0.9
 Family history of diabetes, % 36.5 35.1 31.9 28.5 27.3 24.5 22.3
 Family history of cancer, % 14.0 14.0 14.4 15.1 15.2 15.6 17.7
 Family history of myocardial infarction, % 29.5 27.8 26.6 24.5 25.0 24.2 23.9
Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1987)
 n (%) 237 (0.8) 2,461 (8.5) 7,163 (24.6) 9,124 (31.3) 6,591 (22.6) 2,893 (9.9) 645 (2.2)
 Age, years 56.2 (8.7) 56.7 (9.9) 55.2 (9.8) 54.7 (9.8) 54.7 (9.7) 55.1 (9.6) 54.8 (9.1)
 BMI, kg/m2 27.7 (2.8) 27.4 (3) 26.5 (3.2) 25.2 (2.9) 24.2 (2.4) 23.5 (1.8) 23 (1.3)
 AHEI 38.5 (7.9) 40.6 (7.6) 42.8 (8.8) 46.2 (10.4) 50.6 (10.9) 56 (10) 61.1 (6.3)
 Physical activity, hours/week 0.5 (0.8) 0.8 (1.2) 1.3 (2.2) 2.4 (3.7) 4.1 (4.9) 6 (5.3) 8.1 (5.9)
 Alcohol intake, g/day 24.6 (26.9) 14.8 (22.3) 11.3 (18.5) 10.9 (14.4) 11.1 (11.9) 11.5 (9.3) 12.7 (5.7)
 Sleep, hours/day 8 (1) 7.8 (1) 7.3 (0.9) 7.1 (0.8) 6.9 (0.7) 6.8 (0.6) 6.7 (0.5)
 Smoking, current% 100.0 30.6 12.4 5.4 1.7 0.7 0.0
 White, % 92.9 95.4 95.0 94.2 94.5 95.6 95.1
 Multivitamin use, % 58.2 56.5 59.3 60.9 64.5 69.9 71.6
 Aspirin use, % 34.7 32.8 30.0 29.9 30.5 29.1 31.3
 Baseline high blood pressure, % 33.4 31.0 27.4 24.9 22.3 21.5 21.6
 Baseline high blood cholesterol, % 10.1 12.6 12.3 12.3 12.7 15.3 14.5
 Baseline diabetes, % 3.3 4.0 3.3 3.0 2.4 2.1 1.1
 Family history of myocardial infarction, % 29.9 32.7 33.1 33.6 34.8 34.0 33.7
 Family history of cancer, % 37.6 36.1 36.4 36.8 37.7 37.5 39.9
 Family history of diabetes, % 28.1 27.1 26.3 23.9 22.9 22.8 23.5

Notes: Values are means (SD) or percentages for categorical variables, and are standardized to the age distribution of the study population except age. Low-risk factors in the score included cigarette smoking (not smoking), physically active (≥3.5 hours/week of moderate to vigorous intensity activity), high diet quality (top 40% of Alternate Healthy Eating Index), moderate alcohol intake of 5 to 14.9 g/day (women) or 5 to 30 g/day (men), normal weight (BMI, 18.5–24.9 kg/m2), and sleep duration (≥6 to <8 hours/day).

AHEI, Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010.