Health Australia (Commonwealth Union) – Recent research from the University of Sydney reveals that physical inactivity, smoking, an unhealthy diet, and sleep disturbances between the ages of 60 and 64 can more than double the risk of being admitted to aged care facilities. In a comprehensive study involving over 125,000 Australians, individuals aged 60 and above who adopted the least healthy lifestyles were significantly more likely to require admission to aged care compared to their counterparts with healthier habits.
Dr. Alice Gibson, affiliated with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics, highlighted the importance of this research, indicated that while it is already know that factors such as poor sleep and lack of physical activity can increase the risk of conditions like dementia and diabetes, this study is the first to examine the individual and combined impact of these established and emerging lifestyle behaviors on the likelihood of needing aged care services.
“While further research is needed, our results suggest that people could potentially modify their lifestyle to alter their risk of admission to a nursing home or aged care facility in the future.”
“This is incredibly timely with the latest Intergenerational Report suggesting the number of people aged 65 and over in Australia will more than double over the next four decades, with an unprecedented demand on the aged care sector.”
The study, which has been published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, drew upon data from 127,108 individuals aged 60 and above who were enrolled in the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study between 2006 and 2009.
Upon entry into the study, participants completed a lifestyle questionnaire that assessed five key risk factors: smoking, levels of physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep patterns, and diet.
Based on their questionnaire responses, participants were categorized into three lifestyle groups: low risk, medium risk, or high risk. Approximately 24 percent of the participants were classified as low risk, while nearly 62 percent fell into the medium risk category, and the remaining 14 percent were classified as high risk.
Researchers stated that individuals in the low-risk group needed to score favorably on all lifestyle factors except one, while those in the high-risk group could not meet low-risk criteria for more than two of the lifestyle factors. Low risk was defined as adhering to national preventative health guidelines.
Subsequently, the researchers linked this data with participants’ medical records using the Medicare Benefits Schedule and hospital data, enabling them to track admissions to aged care facilities over a span of 10 years.
Among the 127,108 participants in the study, with an average follow-up period of 10 years, 23,094 individuals (18 percent) required admission to a nursing home. When compared to individuals aged 60 and above in the low-risk lifestyle group, those in the high-risk group faced a 43 percent higher risk of being admitted to aged care, while those in the medium-risk group had a 12 percent increased risk.
The relationship between lifestyle score and the likelihood of aged care admission displayed a linear pattern, indicating that as the lifestyle score improved, the risk of nursing home admission decreased. However, this pattern varied based on age and physical impairment. Notably, lifestyle factors exerted a substantial impact on individuals aged 60 to 64, with those in this age group exhibiting the unhealthiest lifestyles being more than twice as likely to require admission to aged care as their counterparts with healthier lifestyles.
All primary lifestyle factors, with the exception of diet, demonstrated independent associations with the risk of aged care admission. Current smokers faced the highest risk, with a 55 percent higher likelihood of admission compared to individuals who had never smoked.
The researchers underscore that this study is observational in nature and cannot establish a direct causal relationship.
