Functional status and disability

Disabilities differ among countries

Elderly men from Italy and The Netherlands had approximately 50% more self-reported disabilities than those from Finland. The performance-based limitation score was highest in Italy and lowest in The Netherlands. The number of self-reported disabilities was positively related to the performance-based limitations score and that relation did not differ among countries.

Self-reported disability score relates to performance-based limitation score

Cross-sectional analysis showed that the mean self-reported disability score had a graded relation to the performance-based limitation score in the FINE study. This was confirmed in prospective data analysis carried out in the Zutphen Elderly Study.

About the FINE study

In 1984, the SCS field surveys were extended with different aspects of health in the FINE (Finland Italy Netherlands Elderly) study. Similar surveys were also carried out in Serbia and Crete. Read more about the FINE study.

More about healthy aging

From 1984 onwards, additional studies started to examine indicators of healthy ageing in the elderly populations of in the SCS and related studies.


Telomeres and all-cause mortality

Longer telomeres at baseline did not predict all-cause mortality, even though telomere shortening is a marker of aging that might be related to oxidative stress.

Physical activity and disability

The results suggest that even in old age among relatively healthy men, a physically active lifestyle was inversely related to disability.