People with an unhealthy lifestyle are more likely to develop disability in later life than their healthier counterparts, a study has confirmed.
Researchers in France and at University College London analysed data on 3,982 people, aged 65 and over, who had enrolled in the Three-City Dijon cohort study between 1999 and 2001 and were then followed for the next 12 years.
Participants were considered to be disabled if they could not perform at least one activity of daily living without a degree of help.
The researchers found that 31 per cent of the study group developed disability during the follow-up period, with the likelihood of problems increasing with age.
People who developed disability were more likely to be older, female and less educated than those without disability.
In addition, the risk of disability was increased by 72 per cent for people with low or moderate levels of physical activity; 24 per cent for those who ate fruit and veg less than once a day; and 26 per cent for smokers and those who had only recently quit.
Participants with all three of these unhealthy behaviours were twice as likely to develop disability as those with none of them.
Publishing their findings in the British Medical Journal, the study authors concluded that 'an unhealthy lifestyle, characterised by physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and smoking, is associated with a greater hazard of disability'.