Main description:

People are living longer and most countries are experiencing unprecedented increases in the number and proportion of their elderly populations, resulting from declines in mortality, lower fertility, and the baby boom cohorts entering old age. A fundamental issue facing the global community is meeting the challenges of population aging and achieving healthy aging to maintain an active older population and reduce the number of disabled people. Healthy aging is obviously a major goal of all societies and is the central theme of this book.

The focus of this book is on theoretical issues and empirical findings related to trends and determinants of healthy aging, including factors related to "healthy longevity" of the oldest-old, aged 80 and over. The group is the most rapidly increasing elderly sub-population and is most likely to need assistance in daily living in all countries. Chapters include both longitudinal and cross-sectional data from North America, Europe, and Asia in country-specific studies and cross-national comparisons.

We organized the twenty chapters into four parts. Part I focuses on the definition, components, concepts, measurements, and determinants of healthy aging, and discusses the trends and patterns of disability and healthy life expectancy at the macro level. Part II addresses individual healthy aging, including its biological and socio-demographic aspects. Part III focuses on issues concerning the family and healthy aging, and Part IV explores formal and informal care for healthy aging through governmental policy interventions and community service programs.

Feature:

Living longer and healthier is a goal of human beings for thousands of years, but we know little about it

Written by distinguished experts in the field of healthy aging/ longevity it addresses strategically important issues of "living longer and healthier"

Presents country-specific studies and cross-national comparisons with easy-to-read texts, based on longitudinal and cross-sectional data from North America, Europe and Asia

Contents:

Preface. Introduction.
Part I. Disability and Healthy Life Expectancy. Introduction to Part I, Jean Marie Robine. 1. Can We Live Longer, Healthier Lives? Carol Jagger. 2. Aging and Disability in Taiwan: Prevalence and Transitions from a Panel Study, Ming-Cheng Chang and Zachary Zimmer. 3. Disability Patterns for U.S. Elderly Nursing Home Residents over Two Decades: Findings from the 1973 to 1997 National Nursing Home Surveys, Yongyi Li, Elizabeth H. Corder and Larry S. Corder. 4. A Method for Correcting the Underestimation of Disabled Life Expectancy, with an Empirical Application to Oldest-Old in China, Zeng Yi, Gu Danan and Kenneth C. Land. 5. Effects of Diabetes on Healthy Life Expectancy: Shorter Lives with More Disability for Both Women and Men, James N. Laditka and Sarah B. Laditka. 6. Increasing Longevity: Causes, Consequences and Prospects. Cardiovascular Disease Trends, Russell V. Luepker.
Part II. Individual Healthy Aging. Introduction to Part II, Eileen Crimmins. 7. Age Differences in Allostatic Load: An Index of Frailty, Eileen M. Crimmins. 8. Aging without Dementia, Pascale Barberger-Gateau, Luc Letenneur, Valérie Deschamps, Catherine Helmer, Colette Fabrigoule and Jean-François Dartigues. 9. Does Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism Determine the Survivability of Vascular Accidents at Advanced Ages? Implications for Mortality Differentials. Running head: Mortality and APOE, Elizabeth H. Corder, Lars Lannfelt, Matti Viitanen, Larry S. Corder and Bengt Winblad. 10. The Danish Longitudinal Centenarian Study, Karen Andersen-Ranberg and Bernard Jeune. 11. Gender and Healthy Aging, Emily Grundy. 12. Female Disadvantages among the Elderly in China, Zeng Yi, Liu Yuzhi and Linda K. George. 13. The Relationship between Occupational Status, Mobility and Mortality at Older Ages, Emmanuelle Cambois.
Part III. The Family and Healthy Aging. Introduction to Part III, Zeng Yi. 14. Impact of Longer Life on CareGiving from Children, Jenny de Jong Gierveld and Pearl A. Dykstra. 15. Living Arrangement of the Oldest Old in China, Guo Zhigang. 16. Longevity among Chinese Consanguines, Yun Zhou and Qiang Ren.
Part IV. Community Effects on Healthy Aging. Introduction to Part IV, Yves Carrière. 17. Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with the Use of Formal and Informal Support Networks among Elderly Canadians, Yves Carrière, Laurent Martel, Jacques Légaré and Lucie Morin. 18. Variation in Cohort Size and Lower Mortality in the Elderly: Implications for Pay-As-You-Go Healthcare Systems, Jacques Légaré, Robert Bourbeau, Bertrand Desjardins and Chad Deblois. 19. Successful Aging amongst the Very Old: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study of Aging, Gary Andrews, Michael Clark and Sam Davis. 20. Needs, Provision, and Financing of Care for Elderly, Madeleine Rochon.
Index.