Abstract
Health research suggests that findings on young-old adults cannot be generalized to old-old adults and thus that old-old age seems not a simple continuation of young-old age due to qualitative changes that result in a discontinuity in old age. Specifically, it would be of conceptual and methodological importance to inform research regarding estimates around which chronological age the beginning of old-old age could be placed at a population level, and whether this is universal or domain-specific. To derive such criteria, we investigated potential discontinuity of age relations between young-old and old-old age in a large population-based sample considering measures in different domains (processing speed, verbal abilities, general health status, activity participation, and life satisfaction). For processing speed, verbal abilities, general health status, and life satisfaction we observed some very small indication that there might be a discontinuity of age relations at the end of individuals’ eighties, and for activity participation already at the beginning of individuals’ eighties. In conclusion, models conceptualizing aging as a gradual development might not suffice to adequately represent the differences between the stages of young-old and old-old age due to some very small indication that there might be discontinuity in late adulthood.
Highlights
A key question in research on many health domains in old age concerns whether there is continuity across old age or whether we need to differentiate between a young-old and an old-old age due to discontinuity [1]
For each inspected domain cognitive abilities/general health status/activities/life satisfaction we examined age relations, testing both a gradual model as well as a stage model and comparing which model provided a better variance explanation
Higher chronological age was significantly related to lower general health status
Summary
A key question in research on many health domains in old age concerns whether there is continuity across old age or whether we need to differentiate between a young-old and an old-old age due to discontinuity [1] The rationale underlying such discontinuity between young-old and old-old age is based on the conceptual view that in young-old age, individuals are in relatively good health and thereby still have, on average, rather substantial amounts of resources that help to compensate age-related losses. In old-old age individuals’ health resources become fewer and may reach a critical level that no longer allows for compensating age-related losses [1,2]. Public Health 2016, 13, 1092; doi:10.3390/ijerph13111092 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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