Healthy Old Age Is Myth For Many

A new MORI survey published today (9 July) shows that many millions of British people have unrealistic expectations of a healthy old age.

The survey commissioned by the recently merged charities Help the Aged and Research into Ageing shows that 68 per cent of people expect to be fit and healthy in old age. However, the reality is that at least two-thirds of people over the age of 75 have a long standing illness and that 50 per cent of the population over the age of 75 say their illness limits them from leading a full and active life^*.

And although we are all living for longer, health trends predict that people born in Britain today will experience longer periods of ill health than any other generation^**.

But support for medical research into the illnesses affecting people in old age is still not viewed as a priority by the general public. The MORI poll asked 1,979 respondents across the UK to name the two or three forms of medical research most deserving of additional financial support. Cancer came top (81 per cent), followed by heart disease (52 per cent) and children's illnesses such as asthma and leukaemia (50 per cent).

Only 20 per cent of respondents believed that research into illnesses which affect people in old age, such as arthritis or dementia, should be made a priority and given additional financial support.

Help the Aged Director General Michael Lake said: "While many people want to enjoy a full and active retirement, the far from comforting truth is that many of us will have a debilitating illness in old age. Poorer health means financial hardship and isolation for many older people."

"The importance of medical research in this area grows ever more pressing to improve our chances of a healthy and independent old age. Help the Aged has merged with and will be funding the charity Research into Ageing precisely to tackle ill health in old age."

The survey assessed people's positive and negative attitudes towards growing old. When asked to identify the two or three good things about growing old, people said they looked forward to an old age which was both active and sociable, with 44 per cent of people naming more time for hobbies and leisure, 41 per cent wanting to spend more time with family and friends, and 37 per cent identifying more time for holidays and travel.

But when asked about their two or three greatest worries about growing old, 44 per cent of respondents said they feared losing their mobility and 34 per cent said they worried about losing friends and family through death.

Caroline Bradley from Research into Ageing said, "It is good to see high expectations of a healthy old age. The reality will sadly be very different for too many of us. High quality scientific research can do a lot to reduce the likelihood of common conditions like osteoporosis, stroke and mobility and funding more biomedical research now is vital to improve the quality of our later lives."

Technical details

Help the Aged merged with Research into Ageing in May 2001. Help the Aged is to match Research into Ageing's 1631 million spend this year on clinical and biomedical research, with a further 1631 million pledged for 2002. Research into Ageing will continue to raise funds earmarked for medical research.

Research into Ageing funds research into the most common illnesses affecting old age, including mobility, dementia, bone disease, wound healing, stroke and heart disease.

^* Source: General Household Survey 1998; Table 7.1 Trends in self reported sickness by sex and age.

^** Source: ONS Health Statistics Quarterly 2000. "Life expectancy has increased at a faster rate than healthy life expectancy, with the result that the proportion of life that people can expect to spend in poor health has also increased."

MORI Notes to Editors

Questions were placed on MORI's Omnibus and a nationally representative quota sample of 1,979 adults was interviewed throughout Great Britain by MORI/Field & Tab across 202 constituency-based sampling points. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) face-to-face in respondents' homes between 10- 14 May 2001. Data have been weighted to reflect the national population profile.

The questions were designed to measure attitudes to health in old age: which forms of medical research people think to be the most deserving of additional financial support; what are the good and bad things about growing old, whether people expect to be fit and healthy in their old age; and whether they think more money should be spent on researching the diseases and disabilities of old age.