Health profiles of older people
June 2003
Society's attitude towards the ‘elderly’ – or more appropriately the older person, has changed recently. Retirement is no longer seen as a period of decline. Older people are now more likely to be seen as having their own individual needs, desires, and aspirations as well as being able to actively participate in maintaining their own health and fitness.
Good health throughout life and during old age is determined by an individual’s genes as well as their lifestyle. The body’s needs and health concerns change according to different life stages. For example, young adults are most at risks from accidents, but later in life people are increasingly susceptible to degenerative disease. The body’s natural healing processes also tend to become less efficient as the immune system’s resistance to disease is reduced with age.
Older people are not a uniform group and they have a wide range of needs. They may be broadly seen as three groups:
- Entering old age: These are people who have completed their career in paid employment and/or child rearing. This is a socially-constructed definition of old age, which, according to different interpretations, includes people as young as 50, or from the current official retirement ages of 60 for women and 65 for men. These people are active and independent and many remain so into late old age. The goals of health and social care policy at this stage are to promote and extend healthy active life, and to compress morbidity - the period of life before death spent in frailty and dependency.
- Transitional phase: This group of older people is in transition between healthy, active life and frailty. This transition often occurs in the seventh or eighth decades, but can occur at any stage of older age. The goals of health and social care policy are to identify emerging problems ahead of crisis, and ensure effective responses, which will prevent crisis and reduce long-term dependency.
- Frail older people: These people are vulnerable as a result of health problems such as stroke or dementia, social care needs or a combination of both. Frailty is often experienced only in late old age, so services for older people should be designed with their needs in mind.
References:
[1] The British Medical Association's Family Health Guide 2000