ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
This article is part of the Research TopicLifestyle behaviors and chronic diseases: pathways, interventions, knowledge and public health challengesView all 12 articles
Self-rated health, mental well-being, nutrition habits, and their association with morbidity of ischemic heart disease
Provisionally accepted
- Institute of Cardiology, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
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Background: Lifestyle factors - such as dietary habits, physical activity, smoking, and sleep quality - are modifiable determinants that not only directly affect cardiovascular risk but also shape an individual's self-rated health and mental well-being. However, the interrelationships among these domains remain inadequately understood. The aim of this study is a comprehensive assessment of complex factors - self-rated health, mental well-being, and lifestyle factors and their association with morbidity of ischemic heart disease (IHD). Materials and methods: This epidemiological health survey of the study "Chronic diseases and their risk factors in the adult population" was performed during 2023-2024 in Kaunas city (Lithuania) following the methodology of the WHO MONICA study. A random sample of Kaunas inhabitants aged 25-69 years, stratified by sex and age, was randomly selected from the Lithuanian population register. The 3426 individuals were screened. The associations of self-rated health, mental well-being status, and lifestyle habits with the IHD were investigated using binary logistic regression analysis. An exploratory factor analysis with orthogonal varimax rotation was conducted to examine the factor structure of the food intake data. Results: This study highlights the significant association of good self-rated health and mental well-being status with a lower odds of IHD, even after adjusting for main covariates (sex, age, education, marital status, metabolic syndrome, and its components) (OR = 0.692, 95% CI: 0.22-0.93, p = 0.013). Furthermore, specific lifestyle habits - including regular physical activity (OR = 1.661, 95% CI: 1.35-This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article 2.04, p<0.001), sufficient sleep (OR = 1.115, 95% CI: 1.03-1.21, p = 0.006), and healthy nutrition habits rich in fruits, vegetables, and fish (OR = 1.463, 95% CI: 1.24-1.73, p<0.001) - were positively associated with better self-rated health and mental well-being. However, more frequent consumption of meat products and potatoes reduced the odds of good self-rated health and mental well-being (OR = 0.831, 95% CI: 0.70-0.99, p=0.04). Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of promoting healthy lifestyle behaviours and mental well-being as part of comprehensive cardiovascular disease prevention strategies.
Keywords: Ischemic Heart Disease, Mental well-being, Nutrition habits, physical activity, self-rated health, Sleep hours
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Aukstakalniene, Luksiene, Tamosiunas, Sileikiene and Lesauskaite. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dalia Luksiene
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