The great majority of those caring for a frail relative are female. The commonest physical symptoms reported are problems related to locomotion, falls, vertigo and deafness. The mental health of Sheldon s sample appears better than its physical state. One in nine is described as showing evidence of intellectual failure, the sort of statistic that surveys today might be expected to show. Although he had no recognised tests to use and he himself lacked psychiatric training, Sheldon s work is still quoted today as the first estimate of the prevalence of intellectual deterioration in old age.
Illness is only part of the story.
Thirty per cent of spectacles were said to be unsatisfactory. This was not altogether surprising as many were, like heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation, and 17 per cent of those with spectacles had never had an eye test. Fifteen per cent of those with dentures did not use them, except perhaps for appearance s sake. It pointed the way towards action. It rejoiced in the everydayness of everyday life.