title: Being old in Ireland: a fit state?
abstract: This is a cross-sectional, interview-based study profiling the health-status, functional ability and patterns of service use of an age-stratified random sample of 766 people over 70. Of 495 respondents (response rate 64.4%), 65% (n=324) rated their health as good/very good/excellent, 36% (n=180) reported long-term illness, 17% (n=82) had a moderate/severe disability. Of those living alone, 68.7% (n=125/182) were female, 39.6% (n=72/182) were over-80, 28.7% (n=51/178) had no fire alarm, 58.9 % (n=102/173) had no panic alarm. Of those who do not have a car, 66.3% (n=174/262) rely mainly on friends/family for transport. 40.7% (n=24/59) of respondents with moderate/severe disability reported no state-provided home-help. Despite much good news, a substantial vulnerable minority of older people would benefit from additional support: rural transport schemes and smoke alarm schemes should be extended; a formal needs assessment of homecare needs of older people should be considered; numbers of community therapists and access to home-help should be increased.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Population Science, Woodview House, UCD, Belfield, Dublin. jane.whelan@ucd.ie
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Whelan
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011594:Psychometrics; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires