Human aging: usual and successful
10 Jul 1987-Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science)-Vol. 237, Iss: 4811, pp 143-149
TL;DR: Research on the risks associated with usual aging and strategies to modify them should help elucidate how a transition from usual to successful aging can be facilitated.
Abstract: Research in aging has emphasized average age-related losses and neglected the substantial heterogeneity of older persons. The effects of the aging process itself have been exaggerated, and the modifying effects of diet, exercise, personal habits, and psychosocial factors underestimated. Within the category of normal aging, a distinction can be made between usual aging, in which extrinsic factors heighten the effects of aging alone, and successful aging, in which extrinsic factors play a neutral or positive role. Research on the risks associated with usual aging and strategies to modify them should help elucidate how a transition from usual to successful aging can be facilitated.
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TL;DR: This article compares the disablement experiences of people who acquire chronic conditions early in life and those who acquire them in mid or late life (late-life disability), which can help inform research and public health activities.
3,149 citations
TL;DR: Evidence linking social support to changes in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune function and related to more positive “biological profiles” across these disease-relevant systems is examined.
Abstract: Social support has been reliably related to lower rates of morbidity and mortality. An important issue concerns the physiological mechanisms by which support influences such health endpoints. In this review, I examine evidence linking social support to changes in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immune function. Consistent with epidemiological evidence, social support appears to be related to more positive “biological profiles” across these disease-relevant systems. Recent research on immune-mediated inflammatory processes is also starting to provide data on more integrative physiological mechanisms potentially linking social support to health. The implications of these links, along with future research directions are discussed.
2,066 citations
Cites background from "Human aging: usual and successful"
...One perspective that may be helpful in this regard is a lifespan or successful aging approach (Rowe and Kahn, 1987)....
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TL;DR: It is concluded that high educational attainment improves health directly and it improves health indirectly through work and economic conditions, social-psychological resources, and health lifestyle.
Abstract: University of Illinois, Urbana The positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Our explanations fall into three categories: (1) work and economic conditions, (2) social-psychological resources, and (3) health lifestyle. We replicate analyses with two samples, cross-sectionally and over time, using two health measures (self-reported health and physical functioning). The first data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents were interviewed by telephone in 1990 (2,031 respondents, ages 18 to 90). The second data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents ages 20 to 64 were interviewed by telephone first in 1979 (3,025 respondents), and then again in 1980 (2,436 respondents). Results demonstrate a positive association between education and health and help explain why the association exists. (1) Compared to the poorly educated, well educated respondents are less likely to be unemployed, are more likely to work full-time, to have fulfilling, subjectively rewarding jobs, high incomes, and low economic hardship. Full-time work, fulfilling work, high income, and low economic hardship in turn significantly improve health in all analyses. (2) The well educated report a greater sense of control over their lives and their health, and they have higher levels of social support. The sense of control, and to a lesser extent support, are associated with good health. (3) The well educated are less likely to smoke, are more likely to exercise, to get health check-ups, and to drink moderately, all of which, except check-ups, are associated with good health. We conclude that high educational attainment improves health directly, and it improves health indirectly through work and economic conditions, social-psychological resources, and health lifestyle. he positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Well educated people experience better health than the poorly educated, as indicated by high levels of self-reported health and physical functioning and low levels of morbidity, mortality, and disability. In contrast, low educational attainment is associated with high rates of infectious disease, many chronic noninfectious diseases, self-reported poor health, shorter survival when sick, and shorter life expectancy (Feldman, Makuc, Kleinman, and Cornoni-Huntley 1989; Guralnik, Land, Fillenbaum, and Branch 1993; Gutzwiller, LaVecchia, Levi, Negri, and Wietlisbach 1989; Kaplan, Haan, and Syme 1987; Kitagawa and Hauser 1973; Liu, Cedres, and Stamler 1982; Morris 1990; Pappas, Queen,
1,747 citations
TL;DR: The genesis of the cumulative advantage/disadvantage perspective in studies of science, its initial articulation with structural-functionalism, and its expanding importance for gerontology are reviewed; its intellectual relevance for several other established theoretical paradigms in sociology, psychology, and economics is discussed.
Abstract: Age and cumulative advantage/disadvantage theory have obvious logical, theoretical, and empirical connections, because both are inherently and irreducibly related to the passage of time. Over the past 15 years, these connections have resulted in the elaboration and application of the cumulative advantage-disadvantage perspective in social gerontology, especially in relation to issues of heterogeneity and inequality. However, its theoretical origins, connections, and implications are not widely understood. This article reviews the genesis of the cumulative advantage/disadvantage perspective in studies of science, its initial articulation with structural-functionalism, and its expanding importance for gerontology. It discusses its intellectual relevance for several other established theoretical paradigms in sociology, psychology, and economics. On the basis of issues deriving from these perspectives and from the accumulating body of work on cumulative advantage and disadvantage, I identify several promising directions for further research in gerontology.
1,426 citations
TL;DR: Ovariectomy induced bone loss in the rat and postmenopausal bone loss share many similar characteristics, including: increased rate of bone turnover with resorption exceeding formation; and initial rapid phase of bone loss followed by a much slower phase.
1,329 citations
References
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TL;DR: This report defines a method which achieves etiologic significance as a necessary but not sufficient cause of illness and accounts in part for the time of onset of disease and provides a quantitative basis for new epidemiological studies of diseases.
10,629 citations
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TL;DR: This study takes involuntary job disruptions as illustrating life events and shows how they adversely affect enduring role strains, economic strains in particular, which erode positive concepts of self, such as self-esteem and mastery.
Abstract: This study uses longitudinal data to observe how life events, chronic life strains, self concepts, coping, and social supports come together to form a process of stress. It takes involuntary job disruptions as illustrating life events and shows how they adversely affect enduring role strains, economic strains in particular. These exacerbated strains, in turn, erode positive concepts of self, such as self-esteem and mastery. The diminished self-concepts then leave one especially vulnerable to experiencing symptoms of stress, of which depression is of special interest to this analysis. The interventions of coping and social supports are mainly indirect; that is, they do not act directly to buffer depression. Instead, they minimize the elevation of depression by dampening the antecedent process.
5,694 citations
TL;DR: Assessment of the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice on a group of nursing home residents found a significant improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.
Abstract: A field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of enhanced personal responsibility and choice on a group of nursing home residents. It was expected that the debilitated condition of many of the aged residing in institutional settings is, at least in part, a result of living in a virtually decision-free environment and consequently is potentially reversible. Residents who were in the experimental group were given a communication emphasizing their responsibility for themselves, whereas the communication given to a second group stressed the staff's responsibility for them. In addition, to bolster the communication, the former group was given the freedom to make choices and the responsibility of caring for a plant rather than having decisions made and the plant taken care of for them by the staff, as was the case for the latter group. Questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures showed a significant improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.
1,502 citations
TL;DR: Men reporting a higher levels of social relationships and activities in 1967-1969 were significantly less likely to die during the follow-up period and trends for women were similar, but generally nonsignificant once age and other risk factors were controlled.
Abstract: The prospective association of social relationships and activities reported during a round of interviews and medical examinations in 1967-1969 with mortality over the succeeding nine to 12 years was examined for a cohort of 2754 adult (aged 35-69 years as of 1967-1969) men and women in the Tecumseh Community Health Study. After adjustments for age and a variety of risk factors for mortality, men reporting a higher levels of social relationships and activities in 1967-1969 were significantly less likely to die during the follow-up period. Trends for women were similar, but generally nonsignificant once age and other risk factors were controlled. These results were invariant across age, occupational, and health status groups. No association was observed between mortality and satisfaction with social relationships or activities. How and why social relationships and activities predict mortality are discussed and identified as important foci for future research.
1,380 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: Lower Organisms: Identification of Longevity, Neurobiological Correlates of Age-Related Cognitive Decline: Animal Models, and Mechanisms Controlling in Vitro Cellular Senescene.
Abstract: Lower Organisms: Identification of Longevity. Assurance Genes in Yeast. Molecular Genetic Approaches to Identifying Gerontogenes in Caenorhabditis Elegans. Genetic Approaches to Life Prolongation in Drosophila Melonogaster. Mutants Affecting Senescence Processes in Plants. Changes in Gene Expression with Aging. Molecular and Cellular Biology: Mechanisms Controlling in Vitro Cellular Senescene. Mechanisms of Altered Gene Expression with Aging. Protein Modifications. Genomic and Mitochondrial DNA Alterations and Aging. Neurobiology: Neurobiological Correlates of Age-Related Cognitive Decline: Animal Models. Neuropyschological Assessment of Age-Related Cognitive Decline in Humans. Neuroendocrine Changes in Aging. Nerve Growth Factors, Neural Plasticity, And Aging. Human Biology: Aging Renal Function and Regulation of the Volume and Composition of the Extra Cellular Fluid. Depression in Old Age. Menopause and Its Consequences. Skeletal Integrity and Osteoporosis in Old Age. Overarching Areas: Excercisephysiology and Aging. Nutrition and Aging. Epidemiology of Aging.
1,269 citations