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1 Center for Health Quality, Outcomes & Economic Research, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bedford, Massachusetts.
2 Section of General Internal Medicine
3 Normative Aging Study, Boston Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Massachusetts.
4 Schools of Medicine and Public Health
5 Department of Mathematics, Boston University, Massachusetts.
6 The Health Institute, New England Medical Center.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Alfredo Selim, Center for Health Quality, Outcomes & Economic Research (CHQOER), Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Hospital (152), Building 70, 200 Springs Road, Bedford, MA 01730. E-mail: selim.alfredo_j{at}boston.med.va.gov
Background. Information on the health status of centenarians provides a means for understanding the health care needs of this growing population. Therefore, we examined the health status of a national cohort of centenarian veteran enrollees.
Methods. Ninety-three centenarian veteran enrollees returned a complete health history questionnaire, which included questions about sociodemographic information, age-associated conditions, health behaviors, health-related quality of life as measured by the Veterans SF-36, and change in health status.
Results. Centenarian veteran enrollees are a group with major impairment across multiple dimensions of health-related quality of life despite having a relatively low prevalence of diseases. They had considerable physical limitations as reflected by their physical health summary scores (26.2 ± 8.3). However, their mental health was comparatively good (mental health summary score 44.1 ± 12.5). Compared to younger elderly veterans (ages 85–99), centenarians had a lower prevalence of hypertension, angina or myocardial infarction, diabetes, and chronic low back pain (p <.05). Centenarians had significantly worse physical functioning, role physical, vitality, and social functioning scores than did younger elderly veterans. The two groups did not differ in their general health, bodily pain, role emotional, and mental health scores. Centenarians did not perceive much decline in their physical or mental health during the preceding year.
Conclusions. Centenarian veteran enrollees are a group with a low number of age-associated diseases and good mental health despite substantial physical limitations. These results support future studies of services directed toward improvement of function as opposed to those focused solely on the treatment of diseases.
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  M. Takayama, N. Hirose, Y. Arai, Y. Gondo, K. Shimizu, Y. Ebihara, K. Yamamura, S. Nakazawa, H. Inagaki, Y. Masui, et al. Morbidity of Tokyo-Area Centenarians and Its Relationship to Functional Status J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci., July 1, 2007; 62(7): 774 - 782. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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