Secular Trends in Self-Reported Functioning, Need for Assistance and Attitudes Towards Life: 10-Year Differences of Three Older Cohorts

OBJECTIVES: To compare the self-reported functional status of cohorts, born 10 years apart, when they were at equivalent ages: 75, 80, or 85. DESIGN: Cross-sectional mailed survey of three birth cohorts in 1989 and 1999. SETTING: Helsinki, Finland. PARTICIPANTS: Random samples of older horne-dwelling residents from birth cohorts 1904, 1909, and 1914 in 1989 (N = 685) and the birth cohorts 1914, 1919, and 1924 in 1993 (N = 2,047) were asked the same questions. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported physical functioning, need for assistance in daily living, and attitudes toward life. RESULTS: Among 85-year-olds born in 1914 there was a significantly larger proportion able to go outdoors com pared with 85-year-olds born in 1904 (72.9% vs 60.6% in women (P < .01) and 84.6% vs 63.6 % in men (P < .01), respectively). Similar trends were observed between the oldest cohorts concerning the need for assistance. The amount of publicly funded domestic help had reduced in the two oldest cohorts in 1999 compared with 1989 (20.3% vs 29.8% in 85-year-old women born in 1914 vs 1904 (P < .05); and 10.2% vs 25.0% in 85-year-old men born 1914 vs 1904 (P <.05), but at the same time 75-year-old women born in 1924 had increased the use of private domestic help compared with 75-year-old women born in 1914. Significantly larger proportions of both men and women had plans for the future in all the cohorts in 1999 than in 1989. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent yet small differences between the corresponding cohorts suggest that physical functioning and more-optimistic attitude toward life have increased and need for assistance has decreased over 10 years in the older population up to the age of 85.