The finding in our study that multiple risk factors
are more common in older and lower educated subjects
has been reported previously. Also, the finding that
multiple lifestyle risk factors are more common in subjects
who are unemployed and less common in subjects
who perceive their health as good or excellent has been
reported before [15]. However, contrary to previous
reports [15], we observed a higher prevalence of multiple
risk factors among subjects who live without a
partner in men. A possible explanation for this discrepancy
between our study and the study of Raitakari et
al. is the age difference between the study populations.
Our population consisted of adult subjects whereas the
other study consisted of adolescents. The latter may be
more susceptible to the influence of peers. Elevated
clustering of lifestyle risk factors in subjects who had a