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The INDEPENDENT, February 16, 2006
Study shows seniors want information to improve their health
A study released this month
reports that seniors are very
good at maintaining their health
and they respond well to infor-
mation about behaviors that
could improve their health.
A Duke University team
studied the extent of healthy
aging using ten different meas-
ures of nearly all the seniors in
Cache County, Utah. The 3,500
participants, all at least 65
years of age as of January,
2005, were asked to rate their
health along these lines: inde-
pendent living, vision, hearing,
activities of daily living, instru-
mental activities of daily living,
absence of physical illness,
cognition, healthy mood, social
support and participation, and
religious participation and spiri-
tuality.
“Despite very serious illness-
es that come with age, such as
dementias, our study empha-
sizes that many Americans are
aging well into their 80s and be-
yond and are enjoying healthy
‘successful’ aging,” said study
author Dr. Kathleen Welsh-
Bohmer.
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The study demonstrated that
long spans of illness and dis-
ability are not necessarily part
of normal aging. Americans
generally are healthy to a point
near their death, and then usu-
ally experience a short period
of ill health immediately before
death. This belies the common
thought that aging is associat-
ed with a long period of gradual
decline leading to death.
“Older people are healthy,
and it is important for health
providers to keep this optimistic
perspective and share it with
their elderly clients,” according
to lead study author and pro-
fessor Dr. Truls Ostbye, of
Duke’s Department of Commu-
nity and Family Medicine. “We
hear a lot about disease and
disability among the elderly, but
the quality of life in older indi-
viduals is actually, by most
measures used, high up to the
oldest of age.”
• 80 to 90 percent of persons
aged 65 to 75 were healthy ac-
cording to each of the ten
measures. As people aged,
they tended to report excellent
and good health less often,
down to 60% in those 85 and
older. Even among the oldest,
the majority of respondents
were independent in activities
of daily living.
• 90 percent or more of sen-
iors in every age category lived
at home and more than nine of
10 seniors in every age group
were free of depression or oth-
erwise considered to have a
healthy mood.
• 50 percent of participants
were free from any major dis-
ease, the rest were living with
at least one physical problem.
Most continued to report at
least fair health and the ability
to perform most activities of
daily living and other physical
activities despite chronic condi-
tions. The percentage of partic-
ipants without chronic illness
fell slightly as individuals aged,
but still, of people 85 and older,
40% of men and 42% of
women did not suffer from any
major disease.
“Many people in this study
with chronic diseases were not
in bad overall health,” accord-
ing to Katrina Krause, a co-au-
thor of the study. “And as they
got older, a chronic disease did
not necessarily mean they
were disabled.”
Many of the problems older
individuals listed that hurt their
overall health and quality of life
can be modified, says Krause.
The three most common fac-
tors affecting self-reported
health – poor vision, hearing
loss and mood – can often be
treated with, for example, pre-
scription glasses, hearing aids
or anti-depressant medications.
“There are no guarantees for
healthy aging,” says Welsh-
Bohmer. Regular medical
check-ups, proper diet and ex-
ercise, maintaining good social
networks and getting adequate
rest are several things that can
help.
Welsh-Bohmer emphasized
the importance of modifying
health habits. “How we fare
health-wise in our later years is
in part related to the genes we
inherit and in part related to the
many health and environmen-
tal factors we are exposed to
over our lifetime. By attending
to factors such as healthy diets
and exercise, we reduce the
risk of many chronic diseases,
such as heart disease, some
cancers, and diabetes and
may also ensure better quality
of life in our twilight years,” she
explains.
The study was funded by the
National Institutes on Aging
and reported in the Journal of
the American Geriatrics Soci-
ety, for February 2006.
Livestock talk
on selenium in
pastures
Gene Pirelli, Oregon State
University livestock specialist,
will present a program aimed
at beef and sheep producers
about the use of selenium as
an addition to pasture fertiliz-
ers. The program is set for
February 17, at 10:00 a.m. at
the Knappa Water District of-
fice building in Knappa.
The program is free and
open to the public, according to
Chip Bubl, Columbia County
Extension Agent. Pirelli’s talk
will focus on the role selenium
plays in animal health and how
to best get this crucial mineral
into a feeding program. Seleni-
um is in very short supply in
Western Oregon soils. Pirelli
has done research on pasture
fertilization with trace amounts
of selenium and will describe
the applicability to Clatsop and
Columbia County farmers.
He will also talk briefly about
grass tetany, a serious problem
last spring in this area. There
will be an opportunity to ask
questions on beef/sheep nutri-
tion and other management
topics. There may be some
time to discuss animal live-
stock identification issues as
well.
For more information, call
the Columbia County Exten-
sion office at 503-397-3462.