MEDICAL, SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL-FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF SURVIVAL -A FOLLOW-UP FROM 67 TO 87 YEARS OF AGE

All pensioners in a primary care district (n = 142) participating in a multi-disciplinary population study were followed from 67 years of ag e to the age of 87 with regard to survival. A multivariate survival an alysis of psychological and social factors and medical symptoms at 67 years of age was used to test the relationship between such data and s urvival. Out of the 23 original medical, social and psychological fact ors/variables, the successive ranking risk factors for men were: posit ive attitudes to old-age homes, high social class, many reported disea ses at age 67, low degree of need satisfaction, and many reported earl ier diseases. For women the ranking of fisk factors for early death we re: early death age of mother, low degree of social rigidity, smoking, field-dependency and need of social help. The results reflect the int erplay between hereditary, medical, social and psychological factors i n predicting survival and how this interplay differs between males and females.