Gender-differences in centenarians: Health status and life-style

Abstract

Introduction.–Women live longer but experience poorer health and disability more frequently than men. Our multicenter populationbased study aims to evaluate gender-differences in the functional status of the oldest old, considering the influence of some life-style factors. Methods.– We enrolled institutionalized and community-dwelling Italian centenarians. We conducted structured face-to-face interviews and applied the following scales: Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Norton Scale andGeriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Results.– 152 centenarians (32 men, 124 women) were recruited. Men showed higher ADL, IADL and Norton mean scores than women (3.66 versus 2.39/6; 4.75 versus 2.75/16; 16.38 versus 14.05/20). Severe cognitive impairment predominantly affected women: 64.5% women versus 43.7% men had MMSE score less than 19/30. Although men were more frequently ex-smokers, they showed some protective life-style factors, such as older mean age at widowhood (87 versus 68 years), 12.5% of men but no woman were still married and all men versus 60.4% of women had had an occupation during life. A lower proportion of men showed symptoms of depression by GDS (17.6% versus 46.5%) with a later onset age (99 versus 83 years). No gender-difference was detected both in self-reported health and in attitude towards life: 58.8% men and 47.7% women reported very good/good health and declared to be optimistic. Key conclusions.– Centenarian men, although fewer in number, were healthier than females and seemed to display a favourable set of life-style factors contributing to reach longevity in better status.