IntroductionPopulation ageing constitutes an increasing medical, social, and economic burden worldwide. Optimal senior policy should be based on well-assessed knowledge on the prevalence and control of age-related diseases, multimorbidity, disabilities, and their social determinants. The objective of this paper is to describe the assumptions, methods, and sampling procedures of the PolSenior2 survey, which was aimed at characterising the health status of old and very-old adults in Poland.Material and methodsThe project was conducted in the period 2018–2019 as a cross-sectional survey of a representative sample of people aged 60 years and over. Subjects were selected using three-stage stratified and proportional random sampling in seven equally sized (n = 850) age groups. The study protocol consisted of face-to-face interviews, specific geriatric scales and tests, and anthropometric and blood pressure measurements performed by well-trained nurses at participants homes as well as blood and urine sample laboratory tests.ResultsIn the Polsenior2 study a group of 5987 subjects underwent the questionnaire parts of the survey, and almost all (n = 5823) agreed to blood or urine sample collection.ConclusionsIn recent decades several studies focused on various aspects of elderly health and life conditions had been carried out in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. However, none of them is so complex and has covered so many issues as PolSenior2, which is the largest study devoted to the health status of older persons in Poland and one of the largest and the most comprehensive in Europe. The results of the study will help to improve health policy targeted at the elderly population in Poland.
ObjectivesHealthy ageing (HA) is a key concept and highly desirable phenomenon in every ageing and already old societies. The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of socio-economic conditions as well as life-style and other health-related factors on the WHO definition of HA.Design, Setting, ParticipantsThe study used cross-sectional data of the PolSenior Project — nationwide research evaluating different aspects of ageing in Poland — which included 4’653 respondents aged 65 years and over.MeasurementsData were collected by trained interviewers in respondents’ homes. Three definitions of HA including or not the participants’ chronic conditions were analyzed.ResultsThe prevalence of HA appeared as high as 17.6% if none or 1 chronic disease was present and 42.8% if no information about chronic diseases was taken into account. The association between known health predictors (age, marital status, education, income) and HA was observed. Moreover, HA appeared in relation with indicators of physical functioning and lifestyle. There was a strong concordance between HA and the fair self-rated health (OR = 1.87; 1.99, and 2.74 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd definitions, respectively) and opposite relation with self-reported need for help (OR = 0.15; 0.15; and 0.13, respectively).ConclusionsThe HA definition based on no functional activity limitations, no cognitive impairment, no depressive symptoms, no more than one disease and being socially active seems to be a useful approach of HA..Electronic Supplementary MaterialSupplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s12603-019-1243-5 and is accessible for authorized users.
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