The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences
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J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. · Nov 2008
Comparative StudyImproving activities of daily living in danish centenarians--but only in women: a comparative study of two birth cohorts born in 1895 and 1905.
The number of centenarians has increased rapidly since the 1950s. In Denmark, 42% more of the 1905 birth cohort made it to 100 years of age compared to the 1895 cohort. We tested whether this increased survival proportion has resulted in an increased disability level in the more recent cohort of centenarians. ⋯ The increasing number of female centenarians does not entail increasing proportions of disabled individuals. In contrast, there is a lack of improvement in ADLs among male centenarians even though the number of male centenarians is stagnating.