Postponement of Senescence: Results From the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Old age mortality has been postponed to higher ages. However, the consequences of longer lives will depend on whether poor health is also being postponed. The objective of this study was to investigate secular changes in different health measures using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), representing nine European countries. SHARE is an ongoing multi-national longitudinal survey of persons aged 50 and older. SHARE started in 2004-2005 and the latest wave was collected in 2013. Comparing individuals from countries who participated in the first wave (n=24,192) and the latest wave (n=46,762), we found a significant improvement in cognitive function over the 8-9 year period. However, there was no difference in the proportion of limitations with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). This study confirms improvements in cognitive function during the last decade among middle aged and elderly Europeans.