Association of Healthy Habits Beliefs and Mortality in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Mexican Health and Aging Study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this article is to establish the association between beliefs about healthy habits and mortality in a group of Mexican older adults.

METHOD: This is an 11-year follow-up secondary analysis of the Mexican Health and Aging Study.

RESULTS: There was a significant difference ( p < .001) in survival rate between those participants who believed that healthy habits have the potential to improve health compared with those who did not. After adjustment for confounders, Cox regression models showed a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.17 (95% confidence interval [CI] [0.07, 0.38], p < .001) for the group that believed in healthy habits.

DISCUSSION: Although the mechanism is not completely clear, according to our results, believing that healthy habits can improve health was associated with lower rates of mortality. Further research should elucidate potential strategies for changing beliefs in older adults with the goal of improving their overall health.