title: Self-perception of health (SPH) in the oldest-old subjects.
abstract: SPH is a subjective and objective assessment of personal health. It is important in evaluation of health status in the elderly as it has capacity to predict mortality, functional declining, and health-care demands. A lot of research has been published about SPH in the elderly, but little is known about SPH in the very old, especially in comparison with the "younger-old" (YO) population. The study has aimed to investigate SPH in 240 elderly patients and compare the data between the "oldest-old" (OO) (aged >or= 90 years; n=52) and the YO (aged 60-74 years; n=188) subjects. Results have shown that the OO group of patients had better SPH than their YO counterparts. Our findings implicate that very old persons belong to a special sub-group of elderly, the "successfully aged", probably due to their genetic stability, distinctive lifestyle, or both.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Gerontology, Home Treatment and Care, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zikic
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jankelic
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Milosevic
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Despotovic
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Erceg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davidovic
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D055771:Serbia