Self-perception of health (SPH) in the oldest-old subjects.
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.
Zikic
L
L
Institute of Gerontology, Home Treatment and Care, Belgrade, Serbia.
Jankelic
S
S
Milosevic
D P
DP
Despotovic
N
N
Erceg
P
P
Davidovic
M
M
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