A Social Report for Ireland Volume II - the NESC Website

218Figure 8.39 Percentage of Respondents Consuming 5 or More DailyServings of Fruit and Vegetables, by Gender and SocialClass, 149 2007%100806040665951625446827862736954200Men 45-64 Men 65+ Women 45-64 Women 65+SC1-2 SC3-4 SC5-6Source Morgan et al., 2008: 64 (SLÁN, 2007)SummaryThe health of older people is fundamental to their well-being. While people’ssusceptibility to ill-health increases with age, preventative measures such as healthybehaviours, along with the provision of anticipatory care, appropriate diagnosis,treatment and rehabilitation, and technological advancements can enhance olderpeople’s health and well-being. Average life expectancy for 65 year old womenis 20.2 years and for 65 year old men is 16.8 years, although there are differenceswithin the population. These life expectancy rates are above the EU25 average inboth cases. There is a link between health and wealth with higher income groups,in general, having better health than lower income groups. As well as a longer life,a healthy life is also important to well-being. Just under 30 per cent of people aged65 and over have a disability (the chances of having a disability increases with age)and just less than two thirds (62 per cent) of older people have a chronic illness.These conditions can have a debilitating effect on people’s health and well-beingespecially if associated with pain. Nevertheless, older people tend to have lowerlevels of psychological distress than the population in general, although people inthe lower social class groups do record higher levels of stress. Psychological distresscan be associated with loneliness and lack of social support.The role of primary care is important. As might be expected, older people have higherattendance rates at GPs than the population generally, with women attendingGPs more than men. A number of factors, in addition to health needs, influenceattendance at a GP, including having a medical card, cost, and being able to accessa GP. Some 29 per cent of heads of household aged 65 and over reported havingdifficulty in accessing a GP. About one third of older people rated their health as‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ (compared to 58 per cent of the population generally).149. SC1-2 are higher (professional and managerial) social classes; SC3-4 are non-manual and skilled manual; SC5-6 are semi-skilledand unskilled.