Successful Aging Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Urban Areas of Liaoning Province: The Crucial Effect of Visual Ability

Abstract

Purpose: Successful aging is an effective approach to coping with population aging; however, the definition and associated factors vary due to culture and demographic distribution differences. This study was designed to assess successful aging of the older adults in China and explore the associated factors. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was performed in Liaoning, China. After double-cognitive function screening, 3558 older adults (1656 males and 1902 females) ≥65 years of age served as our subjects. Successful aging was assessed based on the following: physical disability; cognitive function; activities of daily living; and self-rated psychological/mood status. Results: The rate of successful aging was 31.7% in males and 29.4% in females. After adjustment for age, multivariate logistic regression showed that successful aging was significantly associated with, in odds ratio sequence, visual ability, self-rated chronic disease, marital status, and filial piety in males, and with visual ability, self-rated chronic disease, watching television, and ethnicity in females. Conclusion:The level of successful aging in China is lower than in other countries. Demographic characteristics, health status, individual behavior, and social-psychological factors are all associated with successful aging. Overall, visual ability had the most crucial role in successful aging for the older adults, whether males or females.

Multidimensional Factors Affecting Successful Aging among Empty-Nesters in China Based on Social-Ecological System Theory

“…Among several health-related factors in the microsystem, hearing, self-rated health, and life satisfaction all had an impact on successful aging among empty-nesters. First, the hearing function is associated with successful aging in empty-nesters, consistent with the findings of Liu et al [7]. WHO data in 2018 showed that hearing disability has become the most common type of disability in the elderly, and about one-third of the elderly aged 65 years and over worldwide have disabling hearing impairment [35].…”

“…The evolving perspectives on aging have shifted from "how to live longer" to "how to age well", and the definition of successful aging has been perceived as a useful tool for describing the health status of the elderly population [4]. Since the concept of successful aging was introduced in 1961 by Havighurt, it has been explored by many scholars [5][6][7][8], but there is still no unified definition. Currently, the Rowe and Kahn model [9] is widely used, which defines successful aging as the absence of disease and disability, good physical and cognitive functioning, and active social participation.…”

Vision-specific risk factors impacting self-rated health among older men in urban China: a population-based cross-sectional study

“…The missing data would be handled only if the missing rate was >5%. 21 In this study, no missing data needed to be handled. SAS for Windows, V.8.2, was used to perform data analysis.…”

“…The detail study design has been previously described. 21 All men (n=2221) who were ≥65 years of age, were not diagnosed with dementia, lived in the local area for >5 years and could be persuade to take part in this study, comprised our study population. This study population accounted for 26.5% of the Chinese older men who had lived in the sampled communities for >0.5 year and left for <0.5 year.…”

“…Participating in entertainment measured the status of an individual frequently playing mahjong, chess or cards with others or looking around. 21 To establish if the participant watched television, the following question was asked: ‘Do you watch television frequently?’ Participating in entertainment and watching television frequently were defined as ‘yes’ or ‘no’.…”