These 3 things may strongly increase death risk

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In a new study, researchers found that smoking, divorce, and alcohol abuse have the closest connection to death out of 57 social and behavioral factors.

The research was conducted by a team at the University of British Columbia.

The team analyzed survey data collected from 13,611 adults in the U.S. between 1992 and 2008 and identified which factors applied to those who died between 2008 and 2014.

They found that a lifespan approach is needed to really understand health and mortality.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has stagnated for three decades relative to other industrialized countries, raising questions about which factors might be contributing.

Biological factors and medical conditions are always at the top of the list, so this study intentionally excluded those in favor of social, psychological, economic, and behavioral factors.

Of the 57 factors analyzed, the 10 most closely associated with death, in order of significance, were:

  1. Current smoker
  2. History of divorce
  3. History of alcohol abuse
  4. Recent financial difficulties
  5. History of unemployment
  6. Previous history as a smoker
  7. Lower life satisfaction
  8. Never married
  9. History of food stamps
  10. Negative affectivity

The data came from the nationally representative U.S. Health and Retirement Study, whose participants ranged in age from 50 to 104, with an average age of 69.3.

These surveys didn’t capture every possible adversity—neither food insecurity nor domestic abuse was addressed, for example—but the new findings provide an indication of where various factors stand in relation to each other.

The team says the findings may help develop new interventions to improve people’s health and wellness.

One author of the study is Eli Puterman, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of kinesiology.

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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