Week 1: Intro to Healthy Aging Flashcards
Canadian Seniors Population Outlook
Baby boomers are starting to become ‘older adults’ (~65+), aging population= getting older for a longer period of time
3 main reasons provinces have differences in Senior Populations, who has highest and lowest
Highest= Newfoundland
Lowest= Nunavut
Reasons:
1. Trends in fertility- more baby boomers in certain areas, and older adults have less children
2. Migration- job opportunities, quality of living, health care, access to resources
3. Life expectancy- going up and more in certain provinces
Life Span Predictions (4)
- Decreases in infant mortality rate
- Advances in Public Health
- Plateau of life expectancy- developing more chronic conditions
- Adding life to years instead of years to life
Aging and Quality of Life
Living longer doesn’t always mean living better
-Decreased Quality of Life
-Decrease in physical, cognitive, mental, social health
-Increase in common morbidities and comorbidities
*Males tended to want to live longer than females
*People more want quality time with the people they love, not just more time
Life Expectancy vs. Quality of Life
-Past 60 years seen massive improvements in global life expectancy, but the proportion of life spent in poor to moderate health has not changed
Desire to live longer associated with (4)
- Positive psychological wellbeing
- Increased happiness, life satisfaction, purpose in life
- Decreased risk of all-cause mortality (mediated by lifestyle behaviours)
- Decreased mortality from cancer or suicide (mediated by lifestyle behaviours)
Types of Aging (6)
- Chronological age
- Biological age
- Psychological age
- Functional age
- Social psychological/subjective age
- Social age (social roles)
Chronological age
The number of years a person has lived
Biological age
A description of individuals development based on biomedical markers that are determined by molecular or cellular events (conditions- e.g. Alzheimers, dementia, MS)
Psychological age
A description of one’s own experiences using nonphysical features such as experience, logic and emotional.
Social psychological/subjective age
the personal subjective age of a person based on how old the individual feels and how they feel towards age.
Social age
the social roles that an individual has placed on them by society that determines their age
Functional age
a combination of chronological, biological, and psychological age. Considered to be the wholistic picture of a persons described age.
Types of Functional Aging
1st age- childhood
2nd age- working and parenting
3rd age- ‘young old’ age b/t 65-84 years
4th age- above 85 years
*not everyone reaches all 4 ages, and some skip ages
What is healthy aging and what does it involve (5)
WHO defines healthy aging as “continuous process of optimizing opportunities to maintain and improve physical and mental health, independence, and quality of life throughout the life course.”
This includes a person’s ability to:
-meet their basic needs
-learn, grow and make decisions
-be mobile
-build and maintain relationships
-contribute to society
Some Synonyms to Healthy Aging (5)
-functional aging
-aging well
-independent living
-productive wellness
-longevity
Biopsychosocial (BPS) Model
Physical and mental health determined by integration of biological, social and psychological factors
Fries (1980)
-Compression of Morbidity
-burden of illness is compressed and more prevalent later in life
-increasing quality of life=less sick when older
*delaying onset
Rowe and Kahn (1987) 3 Main Ideas for HA
-human aging is usual and successful
-widely cited
- Avoiding disease and disability
- Maintaining high cognitive and physical function
- Engagement with life
MacArthur Foundation Study on Successful Aging
-led by John Rowe
-Interdisciplinary study most important for HA
Strawbridge et al. (2002)
Need to include the effect of chronic conditions and functional difficulties with successful aging- higher rates of successful aging
Reichstadt et al. (2010)
Qualitative interviews on successful aging in older adult perspectives- positive outlook on aging
2 Broad Theories of Aging
- Stochastic Theories of Aging
- Programmed Theories
Stochastic Theories of Aging
-Most prevalent theory is Free Radical theory of aging *aging occurs randomly and persistently over time
-Metabolic reactions occurring continuously in the body produce unstable molecules called free radicals.
-“Antioxidant vitamins”
-Age Spots
*free radicals -> cell damage -> aging
Non-stochastic Theories of Aging
-Programmed theories
*aging is predetermined (opposite of stochastic)
-Evolved from work by Hayflick and Moorehead (1981)
-Biological clock- time that you will die
Neuroendocrine-Immunological theory
-Tied to BOTH programmed and free radical theory
-Immunity theory of aging
Why do fertility rates contribute to some provinces having higher % of older adults?
The rapid increase in the number of older Canadians, particularly those aged 85 and over, is due to two main factors.
- Baby boomers
-those born between 1946 and 1965 are the largest generation in Canadian history. Fertility rates were much higher during the baby boom, nearly four children per woman, which led to larger birth cohorts. - Life expectancy in Canada has been steadily increasing
Looking at Newfoundland and Labrador for example, the province’s fertility rate in the 1970s was higher than most other provinces. However, by 2022, the fertility rate had dropped to just 1.22 children per woman of childbearing age. This decline in fertility, combined with the large aging baby boomer population, explains why Newfoundland and Labrador now has one of the highest proportions of older adults in Canada.
