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# Recurrent unpaid caregiving was linked to higher smoking and lower inactivity odds
- URL: https://www.coios.me/recurrent-unpaid-caregiving-was-linked-to-higher-smoking/
- Published: 2026-09-30T06:47:02.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T07:57:02.000Z
- Description: A latent class analysis of 25,049 UK Household Longitudinal Study participants across waves 2 to 13 found that people moving repeatedly into and out of unpaid caregiving had higher odds of smoking (OR 1.67) but lower odds of physical inactivity (OR 0.65) and problematic drinking (OR 0.75).
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Behavioural science, Social connection, What linked data reveals, United Kingdom, #preprint, #new, #item, #source-2026-09

Twelve waves of binary caregiving status in the UK Household Longitudinal Study (n=25,049, roughly 2010 to 2023) were grouped by latent class analysis into eight trajectories, each related to four health behaviours measured at waves 7 to 13\. Recurrent caregivers, 6.3% of carers, had higher adjusted odds of current smoking (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.17 to 2.40) and lower odds of physical inactivity (OR 0.65) and problematic drinking (OR 0.75). Associations for the other trajectory classes were largely attenuated after adjustment for sociodemographic, health and baseline behavioural confounders.

*Why it is interesting: Treats caregiving as a pattern over time rather than a fixed exposure, and finds the behavioural association with repeated transitions rather than with duration alone.*

Source

[medRxiv, 28 September 2026](https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.26.26364079?ref=coios.me)

DOI

10.64898/2026.09.26.26364079

Type

Preprint

Design

Latent class analysis of 12 waves of UK Household Longitudinal Study, n=25,049, 2010-2023

Verdict

New finding

Driver

[Social connection](https://www.coios.me/d-social-connection/)

Driver

[What linked data reveals](https://www.coios.me/d-linked-data/)