The Older They Are, the Less Successful They Become? Findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study

Abstract

This study examined whether oldest-old adults are successful agers. Three hundred and six octogenarians and centenarians of Phase III of the Georgia Centenarian Study participated in this study. A first model examined Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model (Rowe and Khan (1997 and 1998)) including the probability of disease, physical or cognitive capacity, and engagement with life. All three components were applied to assess how many oldest-old adults satisfied all three criteria. The result showed about 15% of octogenarians (15.1%), and none of centenarians satisfied all three components of successful aging. Consequently, a second alternative model focused on psychosocial aspects including three different components: subjective health, perceived economic status, and happiness. Different from Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model, a total of 62.3% of octogenarians and 47.5% of centenarians satisfied all three components of the alternative model of successful aging. The results suggest that additional criteria of successful aging should be considered thereby expanding the concepts and multidimensional aspects of successful aging among oldest-old adults.

The Epidemiology of Longevity and Exceptional Survival

“…Male centenarians have better physical and cognitive functional status than female centenarians, despite the greater probability of survival to extreme old age among women. Recent work from the Georgia Centenarian Study (13) provides an alternative model of successful aging focusing on psychosocial aspects of health, including components of subjective health (quality of life), economic wellbeing (access to services for basic needs), and happiness (emotional well-being). Remarkably, 47.5% of centenarians met the criteria for this alternative model of successful aging (13).…”

Envelhecimento bem-sucedido em idosos longevos: uma revisão integrativa

“…11 Dessa forma, foram adotados os seguintes procedimentos metodológicos: elaboração da pergunta norteadora; definição dos critérios de inclusão de estudos; busca na literatura e seleção da amostra; representação dos estudos selecionados em formato de tabelas, considerando todas as características em comum; análise crítica dos achados; interpretação dos resultados, discussão e apresentação da evidên-cia encontrada de forma clara.…”

Successful aging among Chinese near-centenarians and centenarians in Hong Kong: a multidimensional and interdisciplinary approach

“…The differences between the objective indicators (e.g., lack in family and friends, activities of daily living (ADLs) limitations) and the subjective measures (e.g., perceived quality of life, happiness) increase the status of these long-lived individuals to resilient survivors (Martin, MacDonald, Margrett, & Poon, 2010). The disparity between objective and subjective measures of SA had already been reported in previous studies with younger populations (Cernin, Lysack, & Lichtenberg, 2011;Pruchno et al, 2010;Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002), but sparsely used for the very old adults (except for Cho et al, 2012). Specifically, psychological well-being, family support, and financial security should be considered as the criteria for SA alongside with physical health and intact daily functioning, based on both subjective and objective indicators.…”

“…Models that place more emphasis on intact physical functions and absence of diseases may be less relevant to the oldest-old population as these criteria will often render an excessively small proportion of successful agers (Cho, Martin, & Poon, 2012;McLaughlin et al, 2010;Motta, Bennati, Ferlito, Malaguarnera, & Motta, 2005). Instead, models that take into account of the psychological adjustments to physical declines and positive psychological traits may serve the population better (Jeste et al, 2013), as SA may coexist with diseases and functional limitations especially when an individual's compensatory psychological and social mechanisms are considered (Young et al, 2009).…”

“…In particular, the absence of disease was the most demanding criterion for their sample. Cho et al (2012) used Rowe and Kahn's successful aging model including the probability of disease, physical or cognitive capacity, and engagement with life and showed that none of their American centenarian participants achieved the stringent criteria of Rowe and Kahn (1997), whereas a second alternative model focused on psychosocial aspects including three different components: subjective health, perceived economic status, and happiness as they proposed. A total of 62.3% of octogenarians and 47.5% of centenarians were categorized as successful agers according to their revised criteria (favorable subjective health and economic status, and high levels of happiness).…”