20-YEAR LONGITUDINAL-STUDY ON AGED PEOPLE IN BUDAPEST

The present work reports on a 20-year longitudinal study in Budapest. Eight-hundred-sixty-four subjects who considered themselves healthy, t ook part in the clinical examination that included women age 55 years and older, and men of 60 years older at the start of the study. The da ta of the 3080 clinical check-ups have been processed and analyzed. Di seases of the circulatory system occurred most frequently. Ischemic he art disease, cerebrovascular disease, and pulmonary emphysema showed a definite age-dependency. Cataract, fundus sclerosis, decline of visua l acuity, as well as hyperplasia of prostate also proved to be age-dep endent. The occurrence of osteoporosis and spondylarthrosis increased significantly with age. In the mentioned diseases, correlations were f ound between the frequency and the number of follow-up years. In relat ion to our study, we can state that the importance of the risk factors decerase with aging. The pathological effects of the risk factors occ ur in earlier in life and the truly endangered persons would not grow old.