Abstract
Whether one falls into the category of successfully aging elderly (SAE) is generally determined by biological, medical, psychological, and cognitive factors. SAE, pathological aging and usual aging, are the three subgroups presented in the seminal science paper by Rowe & Kahn in 1987. SAE is currently vaguely defined as being free of disease, having preserved cognitive function and an active life, but a more detailed definition is lacking. As a result, the research on SAE is heterogeneous and hard to summarize. Nevertheless, it is clear that genetics, health, basic aging mechanisms, brain changes, cognition early in life, education level, lifestyle factors, subjective factors, the availability of societal health care, environmental factors, and any interaction between all these variables, are important. There are also methodological difficulties associated with studies of causal relationships across the lifespan. Obtaining a detailed understanding of SAE research will be a challenging task for future researchers
Highlights
Most of the epidemiological and clinical research carried out in elderly populations so far has focused on those with diseases and functional impairment
Each disorder has predefined criteria to determine its presence. This is not the case when it comes to the category of successfully aging elderly (SAE), and it has been suggested that health conditions could be used to differentiate between subgroups of elderly populations, and that disease-free individuals could represent the SAE [1]
The present paper gives a brief overview of SAE research, presented in three main sections: biological and medical aspects; psychological and social aspects; and cognitive aspects, all of which are either known, or thought to be important for cognitive function in SAE
Summary
Most of the epidemiological and clinical research carried out in elderly populations so far has focused on those with diseases and functional impairment. Each disorder has predefined criteria to determine its presence. This is not the case when it comes to the category of SAE, and it has been suggested that health conditions could be used to differentiate between subgroups of elderly populations, and that disease-free individuals could represent the SAE [1]. The present paper gives a brief overview of SAE research, presented in three main sections: biological and medical aspects; psychological and social aspects; and cognitive aspects, all of which are either known, or thought to be important for cognitive function in SAE. Our main focus will be the psychological and cognitive aspects of SAE, this does not mean that we consider the biological, medical and social aspects to be less important. We propose that future research should employ an extended definition of SAE, where the focus is more on the stability of cognitive function, or other health aspects, rather than on level of performance which is currently used to define SAE
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