Influence of Sociodemographic, Behavioral and Other Health-Related Factors on Healthy Ageing Based on Three Operative Definitions

OBJECTIVES: Healthy 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, PARTICIPANTS: The 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. MEASUREMENTS: Data were collected by trained interviewers in respondents' homes. Three definitions of HA including or not the participants' chronic conditions were analyzed. RESULTS: The 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). CONCLUSIONS: The 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.