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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on November 18, 2008
Age and Ageing 2009 38(1):47-51; doi:10.1093/ageing/afn239
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Lifetime according to health status among the oldest olds in Denmark*

Henrik Brønnum-Hansen1, Inge Petersen2, Bernard Jeune2 and Kaare Christensen2

1 National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5 A, DK-1399, Copenhagen, Denmark
2 Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløws Vej 9B, DK-5000, Odense C, Denmark

Address correspondence to: H. Brønnum-Hansen. Tel: (+45) 39 20 77 77; Fax: (+45) 39 20 80 10. Email: hbh{at}niph.dk

Background: policy makers face increasing demands for care of the aged and therefore need more information about the health status of very old people. The purpose of this study was to quantify the average lifetime according to health status among the oldest olds in Denmark.

Methods: the 2,258 participants (63% of all survivors) in the 1905 Danish cohort survey were interviewed in 1998 and re-assessed in 2000, 2003 and 2005. Lifetime according to self-rated health status, physical independence and being cognitively intact was estimated. Physical independence was defined as the ability to get up from a chair or bed, walk around the house and go to the toilet, and being cognitively intact was defined as having a Mini-Mental State Examination score >22.

Results: the average lifetime between ages 92 and 100 was 2.7 years for men and 3.3 years for women, of which almost half was in self-rated good health. The lifetime in physical independence was 2.0 years for men and 2.4 years for women, and both men and women spent an average of 1.1 years in a state of physical independence without cognitive impairment.

Conclusion: even at ages 92–93, a substantial proportion of the remaining lifetime is spent in reasonably good health.

Keywords: cognitive functioning, Denmark, health expectancy, oldest olds, physical functioning, self-rated health, elderly

*The study was presented at the 20th Annual Meeting of REVES, International Network on Health Expectancy, 7–9 May 2008, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Received 26 January 2008; accepted in revised form 23 May 2008.


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