Health profiles and socioeconomic characteristics of nonagenarians residing in Mugello, a rural area in Tuscany (Italy)

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the nonagenarians from Mugello (2012)

Characteristics	Gender						P*
	Male		Female		Total
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Study population	135	26.8	369	73.2	504	100
Age (m. sd)	92.5	2.8	93.3	3.4	93.1	3.3	< 0.001
Education (years)
0-2	16	11.9	49	13.3	65	12.9	< 0.001
3	32	23.7	150	40.7	182	36.1
4-5	63	46.7	142	38.5	205	40.7
6+	24	17.8	28	7.6	52	10.3
Work (level#)
farmer	88	65.2	163	44.2	251	49.8	< 0.001
housewife	0	0.0	95	25.7	95	18.8
low	20	14.8	31	8.4	51	10.1
middle	27	20.0	80	21.7	107	21.2
Self-rated health
excellent/very good/good	84	62.2	191	51.8	275	54.6	< 0.001
acceptable/poor	34	25.2	85	23.0	119	23.6
not testable	17	12.6	93	25.2	110	21.8
Mini-Mental State Examination
24-30	82	60.7	137	37.1	219	43.5	< 0.001
18-23	24	17.8	75	20.3	99	19.6
0-17	29	21.5	157	42.5	186	36.9
Activities of Daily Living
5	83	61.5	161	43.6	244	48.4	< 0.001
4-1	44	32.6	158	42.8	202	40.1
0	8	5.9	50	13.6	58	11.5
Geriatric Depression Scale
< 5	77	57.0	141	38.2	218	43.3	< 0.001
≥ 5	40	29.6	130	35.2	170	33.7
not testable	18	13.3	98	26.6	116	23.0
Physical Component Summary
≥ average	75	55.6	130	35.2	205	40.7	< 0.001
< average	43	31.9	146	39.6	189	37.5
not testable	17	12.6	93	25.2	110	21.8
Mental Component Summary
≥ average	66	48.9	136	36.9	202	40.1	0.005
< average	52	38.5	140	37.9	192	38.1
not testable	17	12.6	93	25.2	110	21.8
Chronic diseases (number)
0	17	12.6	25	6.8	42	8.3	0.112
1	31	23.0	90	24.4	121	24.0
2+	87	64.4	254	68.8	341	67.7

*Male vs Female from Pearson χ2 test or t-test as appropriate
#low: laborer or unskilled worker; medium: office, industry or intellectual worker

ISSN: 1471-2318