Glossary

Index

Acute Condition

Illness or injury expected to be temporary

Age Changes

For an individual, differences, from one age to another, that result from internal physical or psychological change that are independent of disease processes

Age Differences

Differences between people of different ages. May be due to age changes, cohort differences, period effects, or some combination of the three factors.

Age Discrimination

The overt denial of opportunity on the basis of age

Age Norms

Norms tied to the life course that tell people of a given age what is allowed or not allowed for someone of that age.

Ageism

Prejudice based on age

Aging Theories

There are two types of theories of aging. Programmed theories hold that aging follows a biological timetable. Error or damage theories emphasize environmental assaults that gradually cause things to go wrong. Many of the theories of aging are not m utually exclusive. See programmed theories: Programmed Senescence Theory, Endocrine Theory, Immunological T heory. See error theories: Wear and Tear Error Theory, Rate of Living Theory, Cross-Linking Theory, Free Radical Theory, Error Catastrophe Theory, and Somatic Mutation Theory.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD)

Chronic organic brain disease caused by deteriorative loss of brain cells

Cardiovascular Disorders

Cardiovascular disease, or disease of the circulatory system, is the major cause of death in older persons and is a leading cause of chronic illness or disability. It includes hypertension and atherosclerosis (excessive thickening and narrowing of coronary, cerebral, and peripheral arteries).

Chronic Condition

An illness of injury expected to be long term or permanent as well as stroke and heart attack.

Chronological Age

The number of years a person has lived

Cognitive Changes

Refers to changes in mental skills such as memory or reasoning. Studies of healthy older people seem to show that the speed of mental processes may slow down but reasoning, such as problem-solving, remains much the same as we age. Some memory ski lls such as certain types of short-term memory may decline. A major advance in research in studying cognition is that researchers now can break memory into different component parts (e.g., verbal, non-verbal).

Cohort

An aggregation of people having a common characteristic, usually the time period in which they were born

Cross-Linking Theory

An accumulation of cross-linked proteins damages cells and tissues, slowing down bodily processes.

Dementia

A general term for brain disease characterized by mental confusion, poor memory, incoherent speech, and poor orientation to the environment. In the elderly it can be associated with a number of disease .processes such as arteriosclerosis, AD. It can also be the side effect of medications or combinations of medications taken . Dementia over the age 75 affects approximately 40% of the population and is the major reason for disability among the very old.

Dependency

The condition of receiving assistance from others for the necessities of life

Dependency or Support Ratio, Aged

The number of people defined as being aged / not working based on age (i.e., such as 60+ or 65+) divided by the number of people 15 to the year before that defined as being aged /not working (i.e., 59 or 64) and the result multiplied by 100. People in the 15 to 59 or 64 group are generally considered to be the working population.

Dependency or Support Ratio, Total

The number of people 1-14 plus the number of people defined as "not working based on age" divided by the number of people 15- "not working based on age" up to the and multiplied by 100.

Dependency or Support Ratio, Youth

The number of people 0-14 divided by the number of people of working age (i.e., 15-64 or 15 -59) and the result multiplied by 100.

Dysfunctional Aging

Refers to changes associated with accelerated morbidity and mortality rates during the latter phase of adult life.

Endocrine Theory

Biological clocks act through hormones to control the pace of aging.

Epidemiological Transition

The long-term change in major causes of death, from infectious and acute disease to chronic and degenerative diseases.

Error Catastrophe Theory

Damage to mechanisms that synthesize proteins results in faulty proteins which accumulate to a level that causes catastrophic damage to cells, tissues, and organs.

Free Radical Theory

Accumulated damage caused by oxygen radicals causes cells and eventually organs to stop functioning

Immunological Theory

A programmed decline in immune system functions lead to an increased vulnerability to infectious disease and thus aging and death.

Life Expectancy

The average length of time a group of individuals of the same age will live, given current mortality rates. Life expectancy can be computed for any age; life expectancy at birth is the most common statistic.

Life Span

The length of life that is biologically possible for a given species.

Middle-Old

A sub-group of the elderly population that researchers often use to refer to persons between 75 and 84 years old. See also: Young-Old and Oldest-Old

Modernization Theory

The theory that industrialization and technological advancements caused older people to lose status in society.

Musculoskeletal Disorders

Disorders affecting the bones and muscles. These disorders are second only to cardiovascular disease both as a cause of disability and as a cause of high health care costs among older people. Older adults may experience arthritis, impaired stability related to posture, poor muscle strength and loss of mobility including falls, dizziness, fainting, fracture, and muscle weakness. See also: Osteoporosis

Nursing Home

A facility that provides personal care plus health care such as administering medication.

Oldest-Old

A sub-group of the elderly population that researchers often use to refer to persons 85 years old and older. See also: Young-Old and Middle-Old

Osteoporosis

Condition in which bones gradually lose mass, become thing and break easily. Osteoporosis may affect one in four women over age 60 and nearly half of all people over 75. Studies have shown that osteoporosis appears to be a preventable process throu gh the use of hormone replacement therapy, calcium supplements and vigorous exercise that puts weight one bones.

Pension

A periodic payment to person or the person’s family, given as a result of previous job service

Personal Care Home

A facility that provides meals, housekeeping services, and assistance with tasks such as dressing and bathing but does not provide nursing or medical care.

Population Pyramid

A graph showing the distribution of population by age and sex.

Programmed Senescence Theory

Aging is the result of the sequential switching on and off of certain genes, with senescence being defined as the time when age-associated deficits are manifested.

Proportion of Older People in the Population

The number of people 65 and older divided by the number in the total population and the result multiplied by 100.

Rate of Living Theory

The greater an organism’s rate of oxygen basal metabolism, the shorter its life span.

Retirement

The period following a career of job holding.

Retirement Communicty

A community, most of whose residents are retired.

Sex Ratio

The number of males per 100 females in a population

Social Security

Colloquially, refers to a general public pension to insure that individuals do not live in poverty. In some countries, such as the US it generally refers to a retirement pension that people are entitled to after a certain number of years of contrib ution, by themselves or their spouse, upon reaching a certain age.

Somatic Mutation Theory

Genetic mutations occur and accumulate with increasing age, causing cells to deteriorate and malfunction

Stereotype

A composite of beliefs about a category of people

Wear and Tear Error Theory

Cells and tissues have vital parts that wear out

Young-Old

A sub-group of the elderly population that researchers often use to refer to persons between 65 and 74 years old. See also: Middle-Old and Oldest-Old