Perspective of Health in Old Age †

The elderly are often depicted as a deprived, disabled group of depressed people. A group of 385 elderly subjects drawn at random from those who lived in their own homes in the City of London, Ontario, or in Grey and Bruce Counties in Southwestern Ontario, were studied to assess their degree of disability, consumption of drugs, and need for health care. The method of sampling is described in detail. The proportion of cooperative subjects in the available chosen samples ranged from 80 to 92 percent. The results showed that disability, as assessed by lack of competence in five activities of daily living, ranged from about 6 percent at age 65 to over 35 percent at age 85. Within the previous year, only 15 percent of the subjects had not seen their family physician, and 36 percent had visited the doctor's office three or more times. Those living at home consumed an average of 1.6 drugs per person. In an institutional sample of 100 subjects, 12 percent were fully independent and had no obvious need to be in an institution; their consumption of drugs was more than twice that in the community sample. Old age is not necessarily a disabling period of life. On balance, it can offer more hope and fulfillment than despair.