Health Profiles among Nonagenarians from Mugello District (Tuscany, Italy) and Their Socio-Economic Characteristics

Cosmo Strozza, Sapienza University of Rome
Patrizio Pasqualetti , Fatebenefratelli Foundation for Health Research and Education
Viviana Egidi, Sapienza Università di Roma

Studying the health conditions of the oldest-old is an important public health challenge. This study aims to investigate whether (1) it is possible to identify health profiles among the oldest-old, taking into account physical, emotional and psychological health; (2) there are demographic and socio-economic differences among the health profiles. We applied a Latent-Class-Analysis to the Mugello Study data: 504 nonagenarians residing in Mugello (Tuscany, Italy). Four groups were identified: "healthy", "non-testable", "unhealthy", "semi-autonomous senile". Demographic and socio-economic differences were found among the groups: women and older-nonagenarians are more likely to be in worse health conditions; more educated nonagenarians are less likely to be in extremely-bad conditions; the lowest educated are more likely to be cognitively impaired; past-office-workers are less likely to have poor health than farmers. Identifying health profiles and their socio-demographic differences could help finding groups to target with specific social policies and health care.

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 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality