What This Means
This research suggests that when it comes to health behaviors like smoking, drinking, physical activity, and body weight, people tend to follow distinct long-term patterns, and these patterns predict how much healthcare they will use and how much they will spend — but in ways that differ between men, women, and different age groups. The researchers followed over 167,000 Korean adults for 17 years and identified six different behavioral 'trajectories' in both men and women, then tracked how those trajectories related to doctor visits, hospital stays, and medical costs.
The study found that men and women in risky behavioral groups did not follow the same healthcare patterns. Men in a moderately risky behavioral group actually visited doctors less often but had longer hospital stays when they were admitted, suggesting they may be avoiding routine care until problems become serious. Women in the highest-risk behavioral group, on the other hand, had both higher healthcare use and higher spending overall. Among men, the age of 65 appeared to be an important dividing line — younger men in severe-risk trajectories showed the strongest healthcare impact, while older men were more affected even at lower risk levels.
This research suggests that one-size-fits-all public health messaging about lifestyle behaviors may miss important differences between groups. Programs aimed at reducing unnecessary healthcare costs might be more effective if they are tailored to the specific behavioral patterns, sex, and age of the populations they target — for example, encouraging men in moderate-risk groups to seek more routine preventive care, or focusing intensive outreach on high-risk women who are accumulating significant healthcare costs.