A 35-year follow-up study based on a nation-wide population study of the life expectancy of people with intellectual disability (ID) was undertaken. The study population consisted of a total of 60,969 person-years. A prospective cohort study with mortality follow-up for 35 years was used and the life expectancy of people with ID was calculated for different levels of intelligence. Proportional hazard models were used to assess the influence of level of intelligence and associated disorders on survival. People with mild ID did not have poorer life expectancy than the general population and subjects with mild ID did not have lower life expectancy in the first 3 decades of life. In cases with profound ID, the proportion of expected life lost was > 20% for almost all age groups. The female preponderance was manifested from the age of 60 years onwards, 25 years later than in the general population. Respectively, survival between sexes differed less. Epilepsy and/or hearing impairment increased the relative risk of death for all levels of ID. The prevalence of people with ID over 40 years was 0.4%. People with ID now live longer than previously expected, and the ageing of people with mild ID appears to be equal to that of the general population, posing new challenges to health care professionals.

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This report deals with the findings of an epidemiological interview carried out among two representative samples (n = 800 + 800) consisting of persons born in 1904-13 and in 1914-23, and living at home in the year 1988 in the city of Jyväskylä, central Finland. The participation rate was 80% (n = 1244). It appeared that overall involvement in physical exercise decreased with increasing age, especially among the women. About 50% of the subjects carried out regular walking exercise and 40% practised some form of home gynastics which was considered not to be very intensive. About 20% of the subjects were no more physically active than was essential for performing their daily activities. According to log-linear and regression models, there was a significant association between higher prevalence of depression and no regular physical exercise. Self-rated meaningfulness of life and better subjective health were also significantly related to regular and intensive physical exercise. These relationships were more obvious among the younger cohort (65-74 years). The results suggest that involvement in physical exercise may promote positive perceptions of psychological well-being among the elderly. On the other hand, psychological well-being seemed to be an important predictor for staying physically active at advanced ages. These findings are based on a cross-sectional study and therefore leave open the question of direction of causality which will be pursued in a follow-up survey.

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Abstract. The present study investigated the appropriateness of Antonovsky's model, in which generalized resistance resources (GRRs) facilitate an individual's sense of coherence (SOC); which in turn is assumed to sustain health. The proposed model was tested using a sample of 320 Finnish persons (132 of them were men and 188 women) aged 65-69 years. The GRRs investigated were family income, cognitive functioning, years of formal education, marital status, and physical exercise. Health was measured by means of a multidimensional indicator composed of physical, social and mental health. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) within the framework of LISREL models were used to test the hypothesized model. The results showed that good cognitive functioning and physical activity in the whole sample, and marital status in men, were associated with a strong SOC, which in turn was positively related to physical, and especially, social and mental health.