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Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bardo, AR; Lynch, SM
Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
January 2021

We examined the number of years to be lived with and without cognitive impairment and with high self-assessed quality of life (i.e., happiness) among a nationally representative sample of Americans aged 65 years and older. Two key questions are addressed: Can people have a high quality of life despite being cognitively impaired? Which is longer: happy life expectancy or cognitively intact life expectancy?Data from nine waves of the Health and Retirement Study (1998-2014) were used to estimate transition probabilities into and out of cognitively intact/impaired-un/happy states, as well as to death. Recently extended Bayesian multistate life table methods were used to estimate age-specific cognitively intact and happy life expectancy net of sex, race/ethnicity, education, and birth cohort.Happiness and cognitive impairment were shown to coexist in both the gross cross-tabulated data and in the life tables. Happy life expectancy is approximately 25% longer than cognitively intact life expectancy at age 65 years, and by age 85, happy life expectancy is roughly double cognitively intact life expectancy, on average.Lack of cognitive impairment is not a necessary condition for happiness. In other words, people can have a high quality of life despite being cognitively impaired.

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Published In

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences

DOI

EISSN

1758-5368

ISSN

1079-5014

Publication Date

January 2021

Volume

76

Issue

2

Start / End Page

242 / 251

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Quality of Life
  • Mortality
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Competency
  • Male
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Life Expectancy
  • Humans
  • Healthy Aging
 

Citation

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Bardo, A. R., & Lynch, S. M. (2021). Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 76(2), 242–251. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz080
Bardo, Anthony R., and Scott M. Lynch. “Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States.The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences 76, no. 2 (January 2021): 242–51. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz080.
Bardo AR, Lynch SM. Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States. The journals of gerontology Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2021 Jan;76(2):242–51.
Bardo, Anthony R., and Scott M. Lynch. “Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States.The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol. 76, no. 2, Jan. 2021, pp. 242–51. Epmc, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbz080.
Bardo AR, Lynch SM. Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the United States. The journals of gerontology Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2021 Jan;76(2):242–251.
Journal cover image

Published In

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences

DOI

EISSN

1758-5368

ISSN

1079-5014

Publication Date

January 2021

Volume

76

Issue

2

Start / End Page

242 / 251

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Quality of Life
  • Mortality
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Competency
  • Male
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Life Expectancy
  • Humans
  • Healthy Aging