Age perceived as old (years) according to (A) age, (B) gender, (C) ethnicity, and (D) self-reported health in a study population of 300 participants. Perceived old age according to age, gender, ethnicity, and self-reported health. The contrast for bad versus excellent health was −5.3 years (95% CI −9.9, −1.0) (Figure 1). There was a gradient for self-reported heath: participants reporting good health perceived old age to be 3.9 years (95% CI −7.6, −0.1) earlier than those with excellent health. White participants reported old age as occurring 5.4 years (95% CI 1.3, 9.5) later than in non-white participants.
Men perceived old age to be 3.0 years (95% CI −5.2, −0.9) before women. Gender, age, self-reported health, and ethnicity were independently associated with the age perceived as old (Table S2). Participants reported 73.7 (SD 10.1, range 45–100) years as the lower bound of “old age.” This age was 70.5 years for participants under 65 and 77.4 years for those aged over 65, a 6.9 years difference ( p < 0.001, 95% CI 4.7, 9.2) (Figure S1). RESULTSĪmong the 150 women and 150 men included, the mean age was 58.8 (SD 16.0) years (Table S1). Inclusion criteria, questionnaire details, and variables can be found in the Supplemental Methods S1. The study was approved by the CHUM's IRB. Content analysis was used to identify and refine reported factors. We conducted a linear regression of the age perceived as old on intrinsic and sociodemographic characteristics. We performed a t-test comparing the age perceived as old by chronological age.
We aimed to identify whether there exists a chronological age delimiting “old age” and investigated factors, for example, sociodemographic and health, influencing the age of transition to being “old.” METHODSįrom September to October 2019, we interviewed 300 participants at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM) with a standardized questionnaire on the age perceived as being “old” and factors influencing this perception.
The elements of elderhood may not align chronologically or be well-bounded. 2 The multifaceted nature of the later decades of life may not be reducible to a single numerical age of transition. There is no consensus on what age delimits “old age” or identifies “older adults.” 1 Old age is part of the natural life course and is socially construed.
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