University College London. UK: A UCL study published in JAMA
Internal Medicine found that older people who felt three or more years
younger than their chronological age had a lower death rate compared with those
who felt their age or who felt more than one year older than their actual age.
Self-perceived age can reflect assessments of health, physical limitation
and well-being in later life, and many older people feel younger than their
actual age, according background information in the report. Authors Isla Rippon
and Professor Andrew Steptoe (UCL
Epidemiology & Public Health), examined the relationship between
self-perceived age and mortality.
The authors used data from a study on ageing and included 6,489
individuals, whose average chronological age was 65.8 years but whose average
self-perceived age was 56.8 years. Most of the adults (69.6 percent) felt three
or more years younger than their actual age, while 25.6 percent had a
self-perceived age close to their real age and 4.8 percent felt more than a
year older than their chronological age.
Mortality rates during an average follow-up of 99 months were 14.3
percent in adults who felt younger, 18.5 percent in those who felt about their
actual age and 24.6 percent in those adults who felt older, according to the
study results. The relationship between self-perceived age and cardiovascular
death was strong but there was no association between self-perceived age and
cancer death.
“The mechanisms underlying these associations merit further
investigation. Possibilities include a broader set of health behaviours than we
measured (such as maintaining a healthy weight and adherence to medical
advice), and greater resilience, sense of mastery and will to live among those
who feel younger than their age. Self-perceived age has the potential to
change, so interventions may be possible. Individuals who feel older than their
actual age could be targeted with health messages promoting positive health
behaviours and attitudes toward ageing,” the study concludes.