Comparison of neurologic changes in 'successfully aging' persons vs the total aging population.
OBJECTIVE
To determine age-related changes in neurologic function in the general population.


METHODS
To administer a neurologic examination to participants in such a way that it is possible to calculate the proportion of elderly persons in the population with each abnormal finding and the proportion of persons with each finding but without evidence of the medical and neurologic diseases likely to produce neurologic abnormalities (eg, stroke and diabetes).


METHODS
Individuals were selected from a community-dwelling population.


METHODS
A stratified random sample of 467 persons aged 65 years and older were evaluated.


RESULTS
Many neurologic abnormalities are increasingly common with advancing age and are present in a substantial portion of the elderly population. The prevalence of abnormal neurologic findings not attributable to disease, however, is substantially lower, typically one half to one third the total prevalence. Moreover, the increase with age in the prevalence of abnormal neurologic findings not attributable to major disease varies substantially among the different measures.


CONCLUSIONS
Primitive reflexes and measures of gait show statistically significant increases with age in multiple measurement domains, suggesting a selective age-related vulnerability.
Odenheimer
G
G
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Brockton/West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, Boston, Mass.
Funkenstein
H H
HH
Beckett
L
L
Chown
M
M
Pilgrim
D
D
Evans
D
D
Albert
M
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D006801:Humans; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009424:Nervous System Physiological Phenomena; D009460:Neurologic Examination