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Early Lifestyle Is Key to Senior Health, Study Reports
By Spectrum Staff
A
study to determine what keeps seniors healthy as they age has led
researchers to the conclusion that specific behavioral and lifestyle
patterns developed early on may hold the key to healthy aging.
The study, published in the Journal of Gerontology, found a connection between
good health in the golden years and quality earlier life activities and circumstances.
“Important predictors of thriving were the absence of chronic illness,
an income over $30,000, having never smoked, and drinking alcohol in moderation,” said
lead author Mark Kaplan, Dr.P.H., of Portland State University.
“We also found that people who had a positive outlook and lower stress
levels were more likely to thrive in old age.”
While some of the factors connected with healthy aging are environmental, others
can be controlled by taking the proper steps before people reach senior citizen
status.
“Many of these factors can be modified when you are young or middle-aged,” said
co-author David Feeny, Ph.D., of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research.
“While these findings may seem like common sense, now we have evidence
about which factors contribute to exceptional health during retirement years,” he
said.
The research was the first to evaluate which factors help older people maintain
exceptional health over a long period of time. Earlier investigations primarily
focused on factors that contribute to poor health.
The study included 2,432 Canadian residents, aged 65-85, who filled out an extensive
health survey every other year from 1994-2004.
One measure, called the Health Utilities Index Mark 3, asked people to rate their
abilities in eight categories including vision, hearing, speech, ambulation,
dexterity, emotion, cognition and pain.
“Thrivers” were those who rated themselves as having none or only
mild disabilities in all eight categories on at least five of the six surveys.
If survey respondents reported a moderate or severe disability on any of the
six surveys, they were classified as “non-thrivers.” Just over half
(50.8 percent) of the respondents started out as thrivers, but by the end of
the10 years, only 8 percent of the respondents were considered thrivers.
By the end of the study period, just under half (47 percent) of the respondents
were classified as non-thrivers. The rest (36 percent) had either died or were
institutionalized (9 percent).
“Even though the study was conducted in Canada, the findings are certainly
applicable to the United States and other industrialized nations,” said
co-author Bentson McFarland, M.D., Ph.D., of the Oregon Health & Science
University.
“Our population here in the United States is similar demographically to
Canada’s, and both health care systems rely on the same underlying technologies,” he
explained.
While the study indicated that early life decisions may play a major role in
overall health as people age, other studies have found that keeping active mentally
and physically plays an important role in maintaining health during the aging
process.
The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute on Aging.
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