Women, Health and Ageing report

The latest major report from the ongoing Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health has been released. The report, Women, health and ageing: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, includes information and analysis from the fifth survey over time on the same set of 40,000 women drawn from three age groups. This report focuses on women born between 1921 and 1926, now aged 85-90. Ischaemic heart disease is reported as the leading cause of death and disability for women aged 65 and older. Among women aged 65-74, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer are the next two highest causes, while dementia and stroke are the next two highest causes of death and disability among women over age 75. Other findings included the fact that only 9% of the women were engaging in high levels of physical activity and another 4% were engaging in very high levels. Moderate and high levels of physical activity were associated with lower risk of falls among women aged 70-75 years and very high levels of physical activity were associated with reduced incidence of fractures among women aged 70-75 years.