For this special Seniors' Health issue of the TMC News, we sat down with two experts in the area of gerontology, Dr. Robert Luchi, professor and chief of the geriatric section at Baylor College of Medicine, and Dr. Vaunette Fay, associate professor and division head of gerontology at The University of Texas-Houston School of Nursing. Recently I was told an interesting statistic. There's a high probability that 50 percent of the women who turn 50 this year will live to be 100. That's going to make for a very large elderly population.
Most men grow old with a spouse, but the majority of women growing older are living alone.
So there are some real implications here in terms of caring for elderly women. Many elderly women have children over 65, so we are seeing more and more grandchildren as caregivers. In the next decade we expect to see several million people in our country over 100. Of course living to 100 with a good quality of life is really what matters. Most elderly people live in their own homes or apartments, and they probably prefer it that way.