Successful Aging in the Oldest Old

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Abstract
SUCCESSFUL AGING is a worldwide aim. Demographic changes challenge policy makers to put increasing effort in dealing with the consequences of an aging population.1 Many research programs, conferences, and political reports deal with the subject of successful aging, healthy aging, or other variants of a positive way of growing old. The concept of successful aging, however, lends itself to more than one interpretation. Two main perspectives exist: one that looks at successful aging as a state of being, a condition that can be objectively measured at a certain moment; and one that views it as a process of continuous adaptation. Rowe and Kahn2 hold the former view and describe successful aging as the positive extreme of normal aging, while others3 use definitions such as the elite of healthy elderly persons or robust aging. In these definitions, successful aging is a better than normal state of being old. Several population-based studies4-8 on successful aging have adopted this concept. Others, like Baltes and Baltes,9 see successful aging as a successful adaptation of the individual to changes during the aging process. In a similar view, Havighurst10 and Keith et al11 define successful aging as reaching individual goals or experiencing individual feelings of well-being.