title: Successful mental health aging: results from a longitudinal study of older Australian men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors investigated the associations of medical and lifestyle factors with the mental health of men in their 80s.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective study of a community-representative cohort of older men. Successful mental health aging was defined as reaching age 80 years with Mini-Mental State Examination score (MMSE) of 24 or more and Geriatric Depression Scale-15 items (GDS-15) score of 5 or less.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 601 men followed for 4.8 years, 76.0% enjoyed successful mental health aging. Successful mental health aging was inversely associated with age (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.87; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.81-0.94), non-English-speaking background (HR = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.21-0.85), and the consumption of full-cream milk (HR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.45-0.89), and directly associated with high school or university education (HR = 1.92; 95% CI: 1.34-2.75) and vigorous (HR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.17-3.05) and nonvigorous physical activity (HR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.05-2.14). Marital status, smoking and alcohol use, weekly consumption of meat or fish, and a medical history of hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, and stroke were not associated with mental health outcomes in men aged 80 years or over.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Three in four men who reach age 80 years undergo successful mental health aging. Factors associated with successful mental health aging include education and lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity. Lifestyle modification by means of increasing physical activity and reducing saturated fat intake may prove to be a safe, inexpensive, and readily available strategy to help maximize the successful mental health aging of the population.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. osvalm@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Osvaldo P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: Graeme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hankey
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jamrozik
authors.forename: Leon
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Flicker
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data