Elderly Italians live long but in pain (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, September 26 - Elderly Italians live longer than most Europeans but after 75 their conditions are poor with respect to the average for the EU, ISTAT said in a report on Tuesday. The national statistics agency said life expectancy at 65 years was 18.9 years for men and 22.2 for women in 2015, one year more than the value for the EU as a whole. "As regards chronic diseases, in comparison with the European Union, Italy reported better health conditions among younger elderly people aged 65-74 years with lower rates for almost all chronic diseases," ISTAT said.
    "On the contrary, elderly people aged 75 years and over had worse health conditions. "In Italy about half of the elderly were affected by at least one severe chronic disease or had more than three chronic diseases (comorbidity). Among the elderly aged 80 years and over the estimates were 59.0% and 64.0% respectively".
    It said 37.7% of the elderly reported to have suffered from bodily pain, from mild to very strong, in the four weeks before the interview for the study. This value was lower than the EU mean and was very close to the estimates for Spain.
    The agency said 23.1% of Italian elderly had severe mobility limitations, two points higher than the EU mean value, mainly because of the high percentage of very old women.
    Women reported severe chronic pathologies less frequently than men, but more often comorbidity and physical and sensory functional limitations. Women referred bodily pain from mild to very strong more often than men (45.4% versus 27.6%). Among women aged 80 years and over this percentage reached 58.6%, versus 39.2% among men.
    "In Italy more than one elderly over ten was affected by severe difficulties in personal care activities (known as Activity of daily living, ADL)," ISTAT said.
    "The Italian percentage of people aged 65-74 years with severe difficulties in personal care activities (ADL) was close to the EU mean, but it was higher among Italian aged 75 years and over, especially for women".
    The head of the Italian gerontology society, Nicola Ferrara, said "with ageing, health probelms rise: many elderly suffer from more than one disease and they lose autonomy, they become disabled.
    "Among the most disabling pathologies are Alzheimer's, cardiac deficiency, respiratory insuffiency and arthritis," he said.