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Background: Increasingly, decision-makers are interested in understanding the returns on investments in programs and policies that promote health and prevent chronic diseases. While the costs of these programs are more easily quantified, many of the outcomes they aspire to achieve are intangible and lack obvious market values. The subjective well-being (SWB) method was developed to value a wide range of non-market goods, including health outcomes directly in monetary terms. This paper presents an application of the SWB approach to estimate the monetary value of health-promoting behaviours as the intermediate outcomes of health promotion and chronic disease prevention programs and policies., Methods: Life satisfaction (LS) was used as a proxy of individuals' SWB. Based on the combined Canadian Community Health Survey 2009-10 data, we modeled LS as a function of income and healthy behaviours, controlling for the socio-demographic factors associated with LS at the individual level using ordinary least squares regression. Equivalent effects of income and healthy behaviours on LS derived from the models allowed us to estimate the trade-off between income and healthy behaviours., Results: We found that income and healthy behaviours were positively associated with LS. The values of increased physical activity, an additional daily serving of fruits/vegetables, and not smoking are respectively $631, $115 and $563 per week. These represent the amounts of additional weekly income required to maintain an individual at their level of LS in the absence of each of these behaviours., Conclusions: The SWB method holds promise as a method to monetize the value of a range of non-market goods, including healthy behaviours for which market values do not exist. The SWB method can be applied efficiently and cost-effectively using readily available survey data.

This cross-sectional cohort study of 5566 women and 2187 men 50 years of age and older in the population-based Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study was conducted to determine whether reported past diseases are associated with bone mineral density or prevalent vertebral deformities. We examined 12 self-reported disease conditions including diabetes mellitus (types 1 or 2), nephrolithiasis, hypertension, heart attack, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, breast cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, neuromuscular disease, Paget's disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine whether there were associations among these disease conditions and bone mineral density of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and trochanter, as well as prevalent vertebral deformities. Bone mineral density measurements were higher in women and men with type 2 diabetes compared with those without after appropriate adjustments. The differences were most notable at the lumbar spine (+0.053 g/cm2), femoral neck (+0.028 g/cm2), and trochanter (+0.025 g/cm2) in women, and at the femoral neck (+0.025 g/cm2) in men. Hypertension was also associated with higher bone mineral density measurements for both women and men. The differences were most pronounced at the lumbar spine (+0.022 g/cm2) and femoral neck (+0.007 g/cm2) in women and at the lumbar spine (+0.028 g/cm2) in men. Although results were statistically inconclusive, men reporting versus not reporting past nephrolithiasis appeared to have clinically relevant lower bone mineral density values. Bone mineral density differences were -0.022, -0.015, and -0.016 g/cm2 at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and trochanter, respectively. Disease conditions were not strongly associated with vertebral deformities. In summary, these cross-sectional population-based data show that type 2 diabetes and hypertension are associated with higher bone mineral density in women and men, and nephrolithiasis may be associated with lower bone mineral density in men. The importance of these associations for osteoporosis case finding and management require further and prospective studies.