New old
How do modern pensioners differ from pensioners of the 70sThe number of elderly people is increasing all over the world.
According to statistical estimates, by the end of the XXI century, the average life expectancy of a person will reach 100 years.
At the same time, the concept of old age itself is changing, as well as what people put into it. Swedish researchers from the University of Gothenburg, working under the guidance of Professor Ingmar Skoog, spent several years comparing elderly people who lived in the 70s of the last century and our contemporaries.
Work on a project called H70, in which this comparison was carried out, was started in 1971 in Gothenburg. Then more than 1,000 70-year-old men and women born in 1901-1902 underwent a medical examination and filled out a specially designed questionnaire. The purpose of this was to obtain a picture of the health status of an aging population, risk factors, as well as social connections of older people and their functional state. A second examination of the participants was carried out after 5 years, after which a similar examination was carried out at regular intervals until the death of the last participant at the age of 105. In 2000, the second part of the study was launched, in which 70-year-olds born in 1930 were similarly surveyed and interviewed.
As a result of the analysis and comparison of data collected when working with representatives of two generations, a number of very interesting results were obtained. For example, the proportion of people of both sexes with a level of education above secondary school increased from 14% to 40%. A reflection of this was the improvement in the results of testing the level of intelligence.
The proportion of elderly people who are married has also increased, as has the frequency of divorce. At the same time, modern elderly people lead a more active sex life than their peers 30 years ago, while the frequency of sexual problems, such as sexual impotence, has significantly decreased.
Some of the results of the study, especially those related to social ties, are quite contradictory.
So it turned out that modern elderly people go out more and communicate more with their neighbors, but at the same time, compared with the 1970s, the proportion of elderly people who feel lonely has increased significantly.
However, apparently, the state of mental health of elderly people has hardly changed over the past 30 years. The incidence of dementia has not increased and although the current elderly are more likely to complain of moderate depression, the number of more severe cases remains at a constant level. At the same time, modern elderly people cope better with everyday tasks. Compared to the 1970s, the number of elderly people in need of help cleaning their homes and taking a bath fell from 25% to 12% and from 14% to 4%, respectively.
Based on the results obtained, the researchers concluded that modern elderly people are generally in better health and more energetic than their peers 30 years ago. These data may influence the outcome of the debate about increasing the retirement age due to the fact that the so-called baby boomer generation has already reached old age.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the University of Gothenburg:
The new old age – today’s pensioners are very different to yesterday?
09.11.2011