Time-to-death patterns in markers of age and dependency

Abstract

Altres ajuts: HHS/R01-AG011552

Altres ajuts: HHS/R01-AG04024

Altres ajuts: UK/ESRC/ES/K004611/1

We aim to determine the extent to which variables commonly used to describe health, wellbeing, and disability in old-age vary primarily as a function of years lived (chronological age), years left (thanatological age), or as a function of both. We analyze data from the US Health and Retirement Study to estimate chronological age and time-to-death patterns in 78 such variables. We describe results from the birth cohort born 1915-1919 in the nal 12 years of life. Our results show that most markers used to study well-being in old-age vary along both the age and time-to-death dimensions, but some markers are exclusively a function of either time to death or chronological age, and others display different patterns between the sexes.