Does my childhood condition my old age?
Favourable conditions in our childhood have an impact on our level of health and development throughout our life.
Situations of poverty or violence during childhood compromise our well-being in old age and may accelerate the onset of disabilities, dementia and frailty.
Economic conditions throughout life also affect us in old age.
A greater economic level usually makes it possible to have more comfortable housing, a better diet, and more varied and creative leisure activities.
On average, older women have a worse physical health and a greater degree of disability compared to men of the same age. These adverse differences arise from the economic and social disadvantages accumulated throughout one’s life.
Likelihood of disability based on the sufficiency / insufficiency of monthly income:
Click on the legend to compare.
Source: Rodriguez-Laso et al. BMC Geriatrics, 2014.
What about my education?
Promoting a population’s education level is an excellent way to increase life expectancy without disability.
No known medication or treatment for dementia has been proven to be as effective as having a high level of education.
To promote active ageing, the main focus should be on continuous learning which allows individuals to remain and be integrated into society, in addition to gaining knowledge to use and benefit from technological advances.
Source: Zunzunegui et al. Rev. Esp. Salud Pública, 2004.
The group that did not go to school but learned how to read and write on their own is a very interesting group because, although they are a bit worse off than educated people up to the age of 90, they then surpassed them in a clear example of survival of the fittest.
Individuals who continued to be illiterate until old age reach the age of 65 with poorer average cognitive function than the other two groups (score of 25 in the test) and they deteriorate much faster.