Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:53:47.741Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Retirement Status Predicting Health Conditions 16 Years Later

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2008

Gillis Samuelsson
Affiliation:
Gerontology Research Centre, Karl XII gatan 1, 222 20 Lund, Sweden.
Bo Hagberg
Affiliation:
Gerontology Research Centre, Karl XII gatan 1, 222 20 Lund, Sweden.
Ove Dehlin
Affiliation:
Health Science Centre, Lund University, 240 10 Dalby, Sweden.

Abstract

All 67-year-old pensioners in a primary care district (N = 142) participating in a multi-disciplinary population study were followed until the age of 83. At 83 years of age, 65 persons had survived and continued to take part in the study. Social, psychological and medical factors predicting survival during the period have previously been reported (Samuelsson et al. 1992). In the present analysis, the same variables at age 67 were used to predict health, measured with six different health indicators, at 83 years. The analysis has been performed separately for women and men. Variables at 67 years of age as determinants for health at age 83 have been identified and ranked through successive selection in a step-wise discriminatory analysis. For women, reported diseases at 67 was a very strong predictor but quite the contrary for men. Blood pressure and sleep medication were strong predictors for men but not for women. Psychological factors were more frequently included in the predictive models for women than for men. Social factors were of comparatively less importance for both men and women. There was greater accuracy in the prediction of health for women. The individual variables most often included in the predictive model for women were coping and reported health at age 67. For men, blood pressure, sleep medication and intelligence were the most frequent predictors. The analysis demonstrated clear sex-specific prediction patterns. When comparing predictors for survival and predictors for differentiated health in the same population no similarities were found.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adelman, R. C. and Roth, G. S. 1982. Testing the Theories of Aging. CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida.Google Scholar
Agner, E. 1983. Predictive value of arterial blood pressure in old age. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 214, 285294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Applegate, W. B., Blass, J. P. and Williams, T. F. 1990. Instruments for the functional assessment of older patients. New England Journal of Medicine, 322, 12071214.Google ScholarPubMed
Berger, E. Y. 1980. A system for rating the severity of senility. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 28, 234236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berkman, L. F. and Syme, S. L. 1979. Social networks, host resistance and mortality: A nine-year follow-up study of Allameda county residents. American Journal of Epidemiology, 109, 186204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowling, A. 1987. Mortality after bereavement: A review of the literature on survival periods and factors affecting survival. Social Science & Medicine, 24 (2), 117124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Busse, E. W. and Wang, H. S. 1974. Multiple factors contributing to dementia in old age. In Palmore, E. (ed.) Normal Aging II. Duke University Press, Durham N.C.Google Scholar
Cassel, J. 1976. The Contribution of the Social Environment to Host Resistance. American Journal of Epidemiology, 104, 107.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, P. T. Jr and McCrae, R. R. 19771978. Age differences in personality structure revisited: Studies in validity, stability, and change. Aging and Human Development, 8, 261275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eberhard, G. 1968. Peptic ulcer in twins. A study of personality, heredity, and environment. Ada Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplement, 205.Google Scholar
Ferraro, K. F. 1990. Widowhood and Health. In Markides, K. S. and Cooper, C. L. (eds). Aging, Stress and Health, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Fooken, I. 1984. Berleben im hohen Alter - Ein Vergleich “kurz-langlebiger” Probanden der Bonner gerontologischen Längsschnittstudie, BOLSA. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie, 17, 340358.Google Scholar
George, L. K. 1978. The impact of personality and social status factors upon levels of activity and psychological well-being. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 840847.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gianturco, D. T. and Busse, E. W. 1985. Psychiatric problems in later life. In Palmore, E. et al. (eds), Normal Aging III. Reports from the Duke Longitudinal Studies 1975–1984. Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Gove, W. R. 1973. Sex, marital status, and mortality, American Journal of Sociology, 1 (79), 6063.Google Scholar
Grand, A., Grosclaude, P., Bocquet, H., Pous, J. and Albarede, J. L. 1990. Disability, psychosocial factors and mortality among the elderly in a rural French population. Journal Clinical Epidemiology, 43, 773782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haavisto, M., Geiger, U., Mattila, K. and Rajala, S. A. 1984. Health survey of the very aged in Tampere, Finland. Age and Ageing, 13, 266272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Habte-Gabr, E., Wallace, R. B., Colsher, P. L., Hulbert, J. R., Whitem, L. R. and Smith, I. M. 1991. Sleep patterns in rural elders: demographic, health, and psychobehavioral correlates. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 44, 513.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hagberg, B., Samuelsson, G., Lindberg, B. and Dehlin, O. 1991. Stability and change of personality in old age and its relation to survival. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological science, 6 (46), 285291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helsing, K. J. and Szklo, M. 1981. Mortality after bereavement. American Journal of Epidemiology, 114, 4152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
House, J. S. and Kahn, L. R. 1985. Measures and Concepts of Social Support. In Cohen, S. and Syme, S. L. (eds), Social Support and Health. Academic Press Inc., London.Google Scholar
House, J. S., Landis, K. R. and Umberson, D. 1988. Social Relationships and Health. Science, 241, 540545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, G. K. and Camach, T. 1983. Perceived health and mortality: A nine year follow-up of the human population laboratory cohort. American Journal of Epidemiology, 117, 292304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krout, J. A. 1989. Rural versus Urban differences in Health Dependence among the Elderly Population. International Journal of Human Development, 28 (2), 141156.Google ScholarPubMed
Lammi, U.-K., Kivelä, S.-L., Nissinen, A., Pekkanen, J. and Punsar, S. 1989. Functional capacity and associated factors in elderly Finnish men. Scandinavian Journal of Social Medicine, 17, 6775.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lazarus, R. S. and Folkman, S. 1984. Stress, Appraisal and Coping. Springer, New York.Google Scholar
Lehr, U., Schmitz-Scherzer, R. and Zimmerman, E.J. 1987. Vergleiche von Überlebenden und Verstorbenen in der Bonner Gerontologischen Längsschnittsudie. In Lehr, U., Thomae, H. (eds). Formen seelischen Altems. Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Longino, C. F. Jr 1990. Social factors in who gets sick. In Stahl, S. M. (ed), The legacy of longevity: health and health care in later life. Sage, London.Google Scholar
Markides, K. S. 1990. Risk factors, gender, and health. Generations, 14 (3), 1721.Google Scholar
Martin, P., Poon, L. W., Clayton, G. M., Lee, H. S., Fulks, J. S. and Johnson, M. A. 1992. Personality, life events and coping in the oldest old. The Georgia Centenarian Study. In Poon L. W. (ed) Special Issue, International Journal of Ageing & Human Development, 1 (34), 1930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrae, R. R. and Costa, P. T. Jr 1985. Personality, stress and coping processes in ageing men and women. In Anders, R., Bierman, E. L. and Hoggard, W. R. (eds), Principles of Geriatric Medicine. McGraw Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Maclntyre, S. 1986. The Pattern of Health by Position in Contemporary Britain: Directions for Sociological Research, Social Science & Medicine, 23, 395ff.Google Scholar
Mellström, D., Rundgren, Å., Jagenburg, R., Steen, B. and Svanborg, A. 1982. Tobacco smoking, ageing and health among the elderly: A longitudinal population study of 70-year-old men and an age cohort comparison. Age and Ageing, 11, 4558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mossey, I. M. and Shapiro, E. 1982. Self-ruled health: A prediction of mortality among the elderly. American Journal of Public Health, 72, 8ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowlin, J. B. 1974. Depression and Health. In Palmore, E.Normal Aging II. Reports from the Duke Longitudinal Studies 1970–1973. Duke University Press, Durham, N.C.Google Scholar
Olbrich, E. 1985. Coping and development in the later years: A process-oriented approach to personality and development. In Munnich, J. M., Mussen, A. P., Olbrich, E. and Coleman, P. G. (eds), Life-span and change in a gerontologicalperspective. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Olff, M. 1991. Defence and coping. Self-reported health and psychobiological correlates. ISOR, Druk, 91115.Google Scholar
Olff, M., Brosschot, J. F. and Godaert, G. 1991. Coping styles and health. Accepted in Personality and Individual Differences.Google Scholar
Palmore, E. B., Nowlin, J. B. and Wang, H. S. 1985. Predictors of function among the old old; A ten year follow up. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeiffer, E. 1977. Psychopathology and social pathology. In Birren, J. -E., Schaie, K. W. (eds). Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. Van Nostrand, New York.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. O. 1962. A study of neuroticism and causal arterial blood pressure. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2, 56ff.Google Scholar
Samuelsson, G. and Dehlin, O. 1989. Social class and social mobility - effects on survival, Zeitschrift für Gerontologie, 22, 156161.Google ScholarPubMed
Samuelsson, G. and Dehlin, O. 1991. Family network and mortality. Survival chances through the life span of an entire age cohort. International Journal of Aging and Human Development (in press).Google Scholar
Samuelsson, G., Hagberg, B., Dehlin, O. and Lindberg, B.Medical, social and psychological factors as predictors of survival - a follow up from 67 to 87 years of age. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics (in press).Google Scholar
Siegler, I. C., George, L. K. and Morris, A. O. 1979. A cross-sequential analysis of adult personality. Developmental Psychology, 15, 350351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroebe, W. and Stroebe, M. S. 1987. Bereavement and Health. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syme, S. L. and Berkman, L. F. 1976. Social class, susceptibility and sickness. American Journal of Epidemiology, 104, 18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, R. C. and Ford, E. G. 1983. The elderly at risk. A critical examination of commonly identified risk factors. J. Royal College General Practition, 33, 699705.Google Scholar
Thomae, H. 1983. Altemsstile und Alternsschicksale. Huber, Bern.Google Scholar
Ursin, H. 1980. Expectancy, activation and somatic health. A new psycho-somatic theory. In Levine, S. and Ursin, H. (eds). Coping and Health. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Vaillant, G. E. 1977. Adaptation to Life. Boston, Little, Brown.Google Scholar
William-Olsson, M. and Svanborg, A. 1984. Gammal eller ung på äldre dar. Utbildningsproduktion, Malmö.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. G. 1986a. Socio-economic differences in mortality: Interpreting the data on their size and trends. In Wilkinson, R. G. (ed), Class and Health. Tavistock Publications, London.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. G. 1986b. Income and mortality. In Wilkinson, R. G. (ed), Class and Health. Tavistock Publications, London, 1986b.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. 1965. A self-rating depression Scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 6370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed