title: Lifestyle factors of people with exceptional longevity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess lifestyle factors including physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and dietary habits in men and women with exceptional longevity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of community-dwelling Ashkenazi Jewish individuals with exceptional longevity defined as survival and living independently at age 95 and older.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred seventy-seven individuals (mean 97.3 ± 2.8, range 95-109; 74.6% women) and a subset of participants of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) I (n = 3,164) representing the same birth cohort as a comparison group.
  
  
  METHODS
  A trained interviewer administrated study questionnaires to collect information on lifestyle factors and collected data on anthropometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  People with exceptional longevity had similar mean body mass index (men, 25.4 ± 2.8 kg/m² vs 25.6 ± 4.0 kg/m² , P=.63; women, 25.0 ± 3.5 kg/m² vs 24.9 ± 5.4 kg/m² ; P = .90) and a similar proportion of daily alcohol consumption (men, 23.9 vs 22.4, P = .77; women, 12.1 vs 11.3, P = .80), of regular physical activity (men: 43.1 vs 57.2; P = .07; women: 47.0 vs 44.1, P = .76), and of a low-calorie diet (men: 20.8 vs 21.1, P=.32; women: 27.3 vs 27.1, P=.14) as the NHANES I population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  People with exceptional longevity are not distinct in terms of lifestyle factors from the general population, suggesting that people with exceptional longevity may interact with environmental factors differently than others. This requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA. swapnil.rajpathak@einstein.yu.edu
authors.forename: Swapnil N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Rajpathak
authors.forename: Yingheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Orit
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ben-David
authors.forename: Saritha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Atzmon
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crandall
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barzilai
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003469:Culture; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008019:Life Style; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009519:New York City; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology