Table 1. Age-Standardized Participant Characteristics by Number of Healthy Lifestyle Factors Prior to the Pandemic Among Participants Who Reported a Positive SARS-CoV-2 Test During Follow-up, the Nurses’ Health Study II, 2015-2021a.
| Characteristic | No. (%) (n = 1981) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of healthy lifestyle factors | ||||||
| 0 (n = 66) | 1 (n = 301) | 2 (n = 564) | 3 (n = 518) | 4 (n = 344) | 5 or 6 (n = 188) | |
| Age, mean (SD), yb | 65.8 (4.3) | 65.2 (4.5) | 65.1 (4.6) | 64.3 (4.7) | 64.4 (4.4) | 64.0 (4.7) |
| Race, Whitec | 64 (96.8) | 291 (96.8) | 554 (98.2) | 495 (95.5) | 338 (98.3) | 187 (99.5) |
| Partner’s education ≤ high school | 14 (21.8) | 60 (19.8) | 108 (19.1) | 77 (14.8) | 37 (10.7) | 13 (7.1) |
| Census tract median household income, mean (SD), USD | 56 248 (17 550.8) | 59 814.9 (19 479.1) | 63 283.7 (22 513.7) | 66 416.3 (25 742.1) | 69 275.8 (26 415.7) | 71 252.7 (26 143.9) |
| Census tract % population with bachelor’s degree or higher, mean (SD) | 24.0 (14.9) | 24.7 (13.8) | 28.6 (15.9) | 31.8 (17.8) | 35.0 (17.7) | 36.7 (18.6) |
| BMI, mean (SD) | 32.5 (8.7) | 32.6 (6.4) | 30.2 (6.4) | 27.3 (5.9) | 25.3 (4.4) | 22.8 (2.6) |
| AHEI, mean (SD) | 52.1 (8.4) | 53.4 (10) | 56.8 (10.3) | 62.1 (11.7) | 66.7 (10.9) | 72.6 (8.5) |
| Alcohol, mean (SD), g/d | 4.0 (9.7) | 6.2 (14) | 6.7 (12) | 7.9 (11.7) | 7.2 (8.5) | 9.4 (7.7) |
| Physical activity, min/wk | 24.0 (33.0) | 63.3 (153.9) | 131 (258.9) | 266.8 (318.5) | 373.7 (339.5) | 478 (402.2) |
| Sleep, h/d | ||||||
| ≤5 | 11 (16.7) | 40 (13.3) | 56 (10.0) | 28 (5.5) | 15 (4.2) | 0 (0.0) |
| 6 | 51 (77.5) | 154 (51.0) | 116 (20.6) | 107 (20.6) | 43 (12.4) | 8 (4.0) |
| 7 | 0 (0) | 53 (17.7) | 213 (37.8) | 231 (44.6) | 193 (56.2) | 101 (53.8) |
| 8 | 0 (0) | 38 (12.7) | 137 (24.4) | 122 (23.5) | 80 (23.3) | 72 (38.4) |
| 9 | 0 (0) | 6 (2.1) | 37 (6.6) | 26 (5.0) | 13 (3.8) | 7 (3.7) |
| ≥10 | 4 (5.8) | 9 (3.1) | 4 (0.7) | 4 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Smoking | ||||||
| Never | 0 (0.0) | 129 (42.7) | 360 (63.9) | 367 (70.9) | 280 (81.4) | 175 (92.9) |
| Past | 58 (87.6) | 161 (53.6) | 185 (32.9) | 146 (28.3) | 63 (18.3) | 13 (7.1) |
| Current | 8 (12.4) | 11 (3.7) | 18 (3.2) | 4 (0.8) | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0.0) |
| Frontline health care workerd | 26 (38.8) | 138 (45.7) | 259 (45.9) | 221 (42.7) | 135 (39.4) | 73 (38.8) |
| Lifetime history of comorbidities | ||||||
| High cholesterol | 52 (79.4) | 199 (66.1) | 349 (61.8) | 318 (61.4) | 193 (56.1) | 92 (49.1) |
| Diabetes | 18 (27.4) | 64 (21.2) | 80 (14.3) | 46 (8.9) | 15 (4.3) | 5 (2.4) |
| Hypertension | 42 (64.3) | 177 (58.7) | 276 (48.9) | 205 (39.6) | 103 (30.1) | 45 (23.9) |
| Asthma | 23 (35.5) | 83 (27.5) | 144 (25.6) | 112 (21.6) | 56 (16.2) | 33 (17.7) |
| Cancer | 18 (28.0) | 77 (25.4) | 103 (18.3) | 101 (19.4) | 81 (23.4) | 35 (18.7) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 12 (18.7) | 22 (7.3) | 28 (5.0) | 22 (4.2) | 10 (2.9) | 2 (1.3) |
| Cardiovascular diseasee | 12 (18.3) | 45 (14.8) | 50 (8.9) | 53 (10.2) | 17 (5.0) | 2 (1.3) |
| Inflammatory bowel disease | 2 (3.6) | 8 (2.7) | 21 (3.7) | 13 (2.5) | 9 (2.6) | 2.6 (5) |
| Hospitalization due to COVID-19 | 8 (12.0) | 23 (7.8) | 36 (6.4) | 21 (4.0) | 6 (1.6) | 5 (2.6) |
| COVID-19 vaccination (first dose) by the time of infection | 6 (9.5) | 15 (5.0) | 38 (6.7) | 35 (6.8) | 24 (6.9) | 7 (3.6) |
Abbreviations: AHEI, Alternative Healthy Eating Index; BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared).
Healthy lifestyle factors include healthy body weight (BMI, 18.5-24.9), never smoking, at least 150 min/wk of moderate to vigorous physical activity, high diet quality (upper 40% of AHEI-2010 score), moderate alcohol intake (5-15 g/d), and adequate sleep (7-9 h/d). Diet and alcohol intake were assessed in 2015, all other lifestyle factors were assessed in 2017.
Not age-standardized.
Race and ethnicity were self-reported at cohort entry. Values for categories other than White (American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and other) are not presented because their number were small.
Defined as physically working at a site providing clinical care.
Included angina, coronary artery bypass graft, myocardial infarction, stroke, and deep vein thrombosis.