Health News

How a Man Can Survive to 85 -- or More

Nov. 14, 2006 - At middle age, there's a fork in the road for a man's health. One way leads to a two-in-three chance reaching age 85. The other cuts those odds to about one in five.

A road map for that healthy old age comes from a remarkable study of 5,820 American men of Japanese descent. Studied since 1965, when they were an average 54 years old, the surviving men now range in age from 85 to 105.

The study of these men uncovers six signs that point toward a healthy old age. They are:

• No smoking
• No more than two alcoholic drinks a day
• Normal blood sugar
• Normal blood pressure
• Not overweight
• Physical strength

The biggest individual risks came from smoking, having more than three alcoholic drinks a day, having high blood sugar, or high blood pressure.

Men who have all six risk factors have only a 22% chance of living to 85 -- and only a 9% chance of being healthy if they live that long.

The healthiest men are nonsmoking, strong, lean, moderate drinkers with normal blood sugar and blood pressure.

Such men have a 69% chance of surviving to age 85 and a 55% chance of being healthy then, find Bradley J. Willcox, MD, of the University of Hawaii and Pacific Health Research Institute, Honolulu, and his colleagues.

"Our questions were, 'What is healthy aging?' and 'How do you get there?'" Willcox tells WebMD.

"I am encouraged very much by our findings. I think that there is a tremendous number of things we can do to age more healthily."

The findings appear in the Nov. 15 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

More Men's Health Signposts

These days, people live longer, healthier lives. But most of those who reach what gerontologists call "oldest old age" are women.

More than twice as many women reach age 85 as men. Three times as many reach 90 -- and four times as many get a cake with 100 candles.

It's becoming clear that the factors linked with healthy aging differ for men and women, says Boston University researcher Thomas T. Perls MD, MPH. Perls, who was not involved in the Willcox study, is director of the New England Centenarian Study, which explores how people live to be 100 years old.

Perls notes that in addition to their six medical and lifestyle factors, Willcox and colleagues also found two social factors that boost a man's odds of a long, healthy life.

One of these is marriage.

Unmarried men, they found, were 70% more likely to die before age 85. Perls says he, too, finds this to be true.

"The vast majority of 100-year-old women lost their spouses in their 60s and 70s," Perls tells WebMD. "The 100-year-old men -- who are much fewer in number -- I would say all of them are married, either to their original or second spouse.