title: Behavioral practices and mortality in women former college athletes and nonathletes.
abstract: In 1981-1982 we first studied the long-term health of women college graduates, college athletes, and a comparison group of nonathletes; the women's average age was 39 years. In a 15-year follow-up we investigated changes in health, behavioral practices, and mortality. Smoking was a highly significant risk factor for mortality: The hazard ratio was 2.2. Other behavioral risk factors were ever-smoking and not currently engaging in regular exercise. Behavioral practices that include not smoking, doing regular exercise, and consuming moderate amounts of alcohol may lead to lower mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. wyshak@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wyshak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D002423:Cause of Death; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014495:Universities; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology; D016387:Women's Health