Objective  To identify and discriminate chronic disease-related daily life and behavior risk factors among urban community elderly residents for effective intervention on chronic diseases among the elderly.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey among 5 380 physical examinees aged ≥ 65 years at 10 community healthcare hospitals in Qiaokou district of Wuhan city in 2016 and medical records of the physical examinees were extracted simultaneously. We analyzed the information collected on the participants' smoking, diet, exercise, obesity, life satisfaction, and social adaptation using latent class method.

  Results  Among all the participants, 3 632 (67.51%) were identified suffering from at least one chronic disease. Based on the results of latent class analysis, the participants were discriminated into three main subgroups with different chronic disease-related daily life and behavior style and the three subgroups were characterized by smoking (n = 3 249, accounting for 60.39% of all participants), having poor life satisfaction (2 062, 38.33%), and having unhealthy diet (69, 1.28%). There were significant differences in age, gender, marital status, and education background among the three subgroups.

  Conclusion  Smoking, having poor life satisfaction, and having unhealthy diet are the three major chronic disease-related daily life and behavior risk factors among community elderly in urban Wuhan, especially among those aged 65 – 75 years, being male, and with lower education.