Turkish Journal of Geriatrics 2017 , Vol 20, Issue 2
INTERVIEWS ABOUT LIFE WITH INDIVIDUALS AGED 100 YEARS OR OLDER
Onur ÖZTÜRK1, Maksut Alper ÇELIK2, Mehmet Akif TAPUR3
1Asarcik Meydan Family Healthcare Center, Family Medicine, SAMSUN
2Bafra Community Health Center, Public Health, SAMSUN
3AsarcikCommunity Health Center, Public Health, SAMSUN
Introduction: The human population is ageing. A centenarian is an individual who has reached the age of at least 100 years. Longevity has been associated with long-lived families and their related genetic material but genes are not the entire story. The study aimed to briefly explore the life stories and perceptions of key variables contributing to their longevity of eight centenarians.

Materials and Method: While the present study involves qualitative characteristics, we have attempted to support these aspects with quantitative data. In four towns of Samsun city, northern Turkey, interviews were conducted with eight centenarian participants. These individuals were identified from a population consisting of 200,000 people residing within the countryside or in mountainous regions. The visits were conducted in their homes, between the dates of October 2016 and December 2016.

Results: We found the ratio of centenarian as 0.4/10,000 people for target towns of Samsun. The mean age of the participants was 101.8 years, and all of them are women. Yogurt consumption was found to be quite frequent among our participants. A number of our participants also thought that religious rituals, such as worship and prayer, were effective for living a long-life and they advised such practices to younger generations. the most common problems consisted of hypertension and musculoskeletal system diseases.

Conclusion: Individuals who reach the age of 100 years or more generally feel youthful and healthy. The common secret our participants provided for reaching advanced age is a natural diet, avoiding bad habits and living in a peaceful environment. Keywords : Aged, Interview, Life