title: Do successful agers live longer? The Vitality 90+ study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discover whether successful aging, understood as a multidimensional concept, predicts further survival in very old people.
  
  
  METHODS
  The population sample consisted of 1,370 persons aged 90 or over in the Vitality 90+ study. Four alternative models of successful aging were constructed, each of them consisting of physical, psychological, and social dimensions. Mortality was followed up after 4 and 7 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three out of four models significantly predicted survival at both follow-ups for the whole group. Separately, "success" in the physical, psychological, and social components was also associated with higher survival. The associations were stronger in women than in men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Successful aging, measured using physical, psychological, and social dimensions, predicts the length of future life in nonagenarians.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland Lily.Nosraty@uta.fi.
authors.forename: Lily
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nosraty
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Enroth
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Jani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raitanen
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hervonen
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jylhä
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005544:Forecasting / Q000379:methods; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis
keywords: health; longevity; nonagenarians; survival; well-being