Posted on 02/11/2008 8:34:39 PM PST by Pharmboy
Living to 100 is easier than you might think. Surprising new research suggests that even people who develop heart disease or diabetes late in life have a decent shot at reaching the century mark.
"It has been generally assumed that living to 100 years of age was limited to those who had not developed chronic illness," said Dr. William Hall of the University of Rochester.
Hall has a theory for how these people could live to that age. In an editorial in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, where the study was published, he writes that it might be thanks to doctors who aggressively treat these older folks' health problems, rather than taking an "ageist" approach that assumes they wouldn't benefit.
For the study, Boston University researchers did phone interviews and health assessments of more than 500 women and 200 men who had reached 100. They found that roughly two-thirds of them had avoided significant age-related ailments.
But the rest, dubbed "survivors," had developed an age-related disease before reaching 85, including high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. Yet many functioned remarkably well — nearly as well as their disease-free peers.
Overall, the men were functioning better than the women. Nearly three-fourths of the male survivors could bathe and dress themselves, while only about one-third of the women could.
The researchers think that may be because the men had to be in exceptional condition to reach 100. "Women, on the other hand, may be better physically and socially adept at living with chronic and often disabling conditions," wrote lead author Dr. Dellara Terry and her colleagues.
Rosa McGee is one of the healthy women in the study who managed to avoid chronic disease. Now 104, the retired cook and seamstress is also strikingly lucid.
"My living habits are beautiful," McGee said in an interview at her daughter's Chicago apartment. "I don't take any medicines. I don't smoke and I don't drink. Never did anything like that."
Until late 2006, when she fell in her St. Louis home, McGee lived alone and took care of herself. Now in Chicago, she is less mobile but still takes walks a few times weekly down the apartment building hallways, with her daughter's help.
McGee credits her faith in God for her good health. She also gets lots of medical attention — a doctor and nurse make home visits regularly.
Genes surely contributed — McGee's maternal grandparents lived to age 100 and 107.
But while genes are important, scientists don't think they tell the whole story about longevity.
A second, larger study of men in their 70s found that those who avoided smoking, obesity, inactivity, diabetes and high blood pressure greatly improved their chances of living into their 90s. In fact, they had a 54 percent chance of living that long.
Their survival decreased with each risk factor, and those with all five had only a 4 percent chance of living into their 90s, according to Harvard University researchers.
Those who managed to avoid lifestyle-related ailments also increased their chances of functioning well physically and mentally two decades later.
The study followed 2,357 men for about 25 years or until death, starting in their early 70s. About 40 percent survived to at least age 90. Among survivors, 24 percent had none of the five risk factors.
"It's not just luck, it's not just genetics. ... It's lifestyle" that seems to make a big difference, said lead author Dr. Laurel Yates of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"It's get your shoes on, get out there, and do some exercise," she said. "These are some things you can do" to increase the chances of a long life.
Yates said it's never too late to adopt a healthier lifestyle, though the findings don't address whether waiting until age 70 to stop smoking, lose weight and exercise will increase longevity.
Hall noted that the United States has more than 55,000 centenarians, and that Americans 85 and older are the country's fastest-growing group of older adults.
He said the new research underscores how important it is for doctors to become adept at treating the oldest of the old, who are "becoming the bread and butter of the clinical practice of internal medicine."
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On the Net:
Archives of Internal Medicine:
http://www.archinternmed.com
There’s hope for us yet...ping.
My father was told that the best way to live a long life is to have a chronic disease that requires frequent medical evaluation.
It’s only the last thirty years that are the hardest, to reach 100.
100 what??..dollars?..pairs of shoes?..pounds?..miles?..
I have an unbelievable uncle in FLA who is 93. He has every marble he was born with. I love that guy...
I have always thought thought that if I lived as old as my dad then, I'd lived a long life. My dad died at 74...I'm 64 and don't have any of the problems he had at 64...so?
News you can use: People who stay active live longer!
News you can use: People who played basketball in college are much taller than average!
As long as I don't have to spend the last 20 year wearing diapers, I'll go for it.
Otherwise, I'm checking out of this hotel.
I’ll be 75 soon and my doctor told me I should cash in my IRA and start drinking $100 bottles of red wine.
We have a friend 93 and she still has her hearing, teeth and only wears glasses for reading. She still drives and she is great fun to be around and she never complains of anything.
My brother is 86 and I have no doubt he will make 100 in good health and he has a great disposition also.
Buy the $100 wine.
Keep the IRA.
Lose the doctor.
It's great news for the Social Security Trust Fund.
My late FIL would have been 100 next week. He died in 2005 at the age of 97. This tough buzzard used to broadcast DDT from a croaker sack with his bare hands off the back of a mule in his cotton fields. He also ate lard most of his life.
I feel like such a wuss.
LOL! It will probably pay out in pesos by that time anyway...
Don’t trade in those genes of yours...
;)PaMom
Living to 100 is easier than you might think.Don't die until then. Gosh, do I have to think of everything?!?
If you live to be 100 you ain’t doin it right. No joke. I am 50, will be 51 soon.
Reasons to die sooner:
1. Was with each parent when they died in old age in hospitals. Going young and quick is better.
2. Life insurance cheats my family after 70. I worked all their lives to provide for them when I was young and would have loved to have been scuba diving instead. Do I really want to sacrifice their inheritance after 70 just to sit and watch Walker Texas Ranger reruns?
3. My Father in Law was a manly man steel mill worker. He literally craps his pants in and old folks home now(Alzhimers). My wife spends her Saturdays holding his hand and crying. I’m glad he never saw it coming because he would have made me promise to kill him. His wife lives in poverty to pay her half of his keep. It costs more per year than he ever earned.
4. Slimebag doctors get rich pumping drugs into confused old people while their lawyers rob them and gypsies sell them squirrel deflectors for their roofs.
5. The Bible offers 3 score and 10.
6. Robert Byrd
7. Memetics. When you’re done being able to teach, you’re done. Get out of the way.
So as my children graduate from college, my goal is to live hard and fast and find a way to die with dignity causing them the least burden. Living to 100 would be selfish and foolish like leaving millions to your pet cat instead of your kids.
He is a Mormon, so probably doesn't smoke or drink...which probably helps.
One of my sons, who drives for the company, says he looks 70.
Now you tell me - ah well, only 27 1/2 more 'hard' years to go
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