Approved research

Prediction of personalized healthy life-years changes from lifestyle behaviors.

Lay summary

Non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases are the leading causes of death and disability in developed countries. These conditions are strongly related to the way people live their lives. They can be prevented by modification of diet, physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use and making the places we live in health promoting. However, permanent positive lifestyle changes are difficult to achieve for most people with loss of the motivation being one of the reasons. We intend to develop a statistical model that will predict benefits of healthy lifestyle behaviors in terms of years gained in good health. This metric has the advantages of being clear, concise, and easy to comprehend. It will help people to understand how different lifestyle adjustments could increase (or decrease) their future years of good health. Understanding the benefits of sustained behavior change and may also support their motivation efforts and increase the chances for successful lifestyle change. The effectiveness of lifestyle interventions designed with use of the metric will be investigated. The project will take 24 months to complete. To investigate the associations between lifestyle risk factors and mortality is of great importance for public health. The proposed project will allow a better understanding of how various lifestyle factors affect longevity and will support the design of more successful lifestyle interventions.