|
The California
Alameda County studies have established, what has now become accepted as common knowledge,
that individual health habits, or health lifestyles, and social connectivity influence
longevity and quality of life, controlling for initial physical health status. Individual
lifestyle preferences and personal habits, such as physical exercise, nutrition, smoking,
and alcohol intake have been regularly estimated in community surveys, including several
in Russia (Berkman and Breslow, 1983; Bobak et al., 1998b, 1998c; Palosuo et al., 1998;
Carlson and Vågerö, 1998; Puska et al., 1993).In addition, the Alameda County
longitudinal health studies established the importance of psychosocial factors such as
social support and social networks for physical health and mortality with periodic
follow-ups of a 1965 community cohort which are still ongoing (Kaplan, 2000; Berkman and
Kawachi, 2000). |