The current study focuses on investigating the interactions between socioeconomic, lifestyle, dietary, psychological, and biochemical factors implicated in the health status of older people in Greece.
782 older (>60 years of age) Greeks were randomly recruited in Athens. Various health parameters were assessed through anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical procedures and specific questionnaires.
Hypercholesterolemia was prevalent in both men and women (78.7% vs. 90.1%) as well as hypertension (81.3% vs. 71.8%). A great percentage of participants was obese (43.6%) of all 42.7% was overweight.
Older women had higher mean Body Mass Index values than the men. As far as smoking habits are concerned, 13.4% of all subjects were current smokers. The majority of the women (77.5%) had never smoked, while most of the men (53.4%) were former smokers. Furthermore, women were engaged in physical activity more frequently and were less adherent to the Mediterranean diet than the men. 36.2% of the women and 21.0% of the men had mild to severe depressive symptoms, while 28.4% of the women and 25.4% of the men had cognitive decline. A history of cardiovascular disease was present in 19.9% and diabetes in 13.9% of all participants indicating that morbidity risk factors in this population are very common and need to be taken into consideration in order to determine targetted interventions.