TY - JOUR
T1 - Successful aging, dietary habits and health status of elderly individuals
T2 - A k-dimensional approach within the multi-national MEDIS study
AU - Tyrovolas, Stefanos
AU - Haro, Josep Maria
AU - Mariolis, Anargiros
AU - Piscopo, Suzanne
AU - Valacchi, Giuseppe
AU - Tsakountakis, Nikos
AU - Zeimbekis, Akis
AU - Tyrovola, Dimitra
AU - Bountziouka, Vassiliki
AU - Gotsis, Efthimios
AU - Metallinos, George
AU - Tur, Josep Antoni
AU - Matalas, Antonia Leda
AU - Lionis, Christos
AU - Polychronopoulos, Evangelos
AU - Panagiotakos, Demosthenes
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - The definition and determinants of successful aging is still controversial. Although dietary habits have long been associated with aging, eating habits and behaviors have rarely been included in various proposed indices of successful aging. The aim of this work was to evaluate determinants of successful aging together with assessment of dietary habits in relation to healthcare facility use among elders living in the Mediterranean basin. During 2005-2011, 2663 elderly (aged 65-100. years) individuals from 21 Mediterranean islands and rural Mani region (Peloponnesus) were voluntarily enrolled in the study. A successful aging index ranging from a score of 0 to a score of 10 was constructed using 10 attributes, i.e., education, financial status, physical activity, body mass index, depression, participation in social activities with friends and family, number of yearly excursions, number of cardiovascular disease risk factors and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The applied factor analysis on the components of the index extracted three main components for successful aging: psychosocial-economic, bioclinical and lifestyle; confirming the multiple dimensions of aging. After adjusting for confounders, a 1/10-unit increase in the successful aging index was associated with 0.8 less annual visits to healthcare centers (95% CI -. 1.3 to. -0.2). Stratified analysis by gender revealed heterogeneity of factors predicting successful aging. These findings suggest that successful aging is a multidimensional and complex concept that exhibits gender heterogeneity. Annual use of health care services by the elders was found to be related to level of successful aging.
AB - The definition and determinants of successful aging is still controversial. Although dietary habits have long been associated with aging, eating habits and behaviors have rarely been included in various proposed indices of successful aging. The aim of this work was to evaluate determinants of successful aging together with assessment of dietary habits in relation to healthcare facility use among elders living in the Mediterranean basin. During 2005-2011, 2663 elderly (aged 65-100. years) individuals from 21 Mediterranean islands and rural Mani region (Peloponnesus) were voluntarily enrolled in the study. A successful aging index ranging from a score of 0 to a score of 10 was constructed using 10 attributes, i.e., education, financial status, physical activity, body mass index, depression, participation in social activities with friends and family, number of yearly excursions, number of cardiovascular disease risk factors and adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The applied factor analysis on the components of the index extracted three main components for successful aging: psychosocial-economic, bioclinical and lifestyle; confirming the multiple dimensions of aging. After adjusting for confounders, a 1/10-unit increase in the successful aging index was associated with 0.8 less annual visits to healthcare centers (95% CI -. 1.3 to. -0.2). Stratified analysis by gender revealed heterogeneity of factors predicting successful aging. These findings suggest that successful aging is a multidimensional and complex concept that exhibits gender heterogeneity. Annual use of health care services by the elders was found to be related to level of successful aging.
KW - Dietary habits
KW - Health
KW - Mediterranean
KW - Older adults
KW - Successful aging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84908432913&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.exger.2014.09.010
DO - 10.1016/j.exger.2014.09.010
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908432913
SN - 0531-5565
VL - 60
SP - 57
EP - 63
JO - Experimental Gerontology
JF - Experimental Gerontology
ER -