Women form the majority of carers. Aged men are likely to be cared for by their ageing wives, but aged women are less likely to have a partner available to care for them when they are in ill-health. Most of the widowed are women. Older women living alone are more likely to be poor and anxiety over economic factors may add to grief and the effects of social isolation, to adversely affect wellbeing. Although men and women suffer from the same categories of illness in later life the patterns of ill-health, the presentation, diagnosis and management may show pronounced gender differences.
Men tend to have acute illnesses, followed by a relatively short period of ill health before death.
Ageing and health occur in a social context characterised by more negative images for ageing women than for ageing men. The menopause serves as a prominent biological marker for ageing in women and has been linked to a number of ill-health problems, both during the menopausal transition itself and in the years following final cessation of menstruation. Population studies are examining the relationship of mood changes and sexual functioning to the menopausal transition and chronological ageing. Results to date indicate that mid-aged women are more likely to report positive moods than negative moods. The Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project is a population based longitudinal study of 438 mid-aged Australian born women.