[French centenarians and their functional health status]

THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDIES ON CENTENARIANS: In a spectacular context of increase in the number of centenarians and of emergence of super-centenarians (110 years old and over), large studies on the health of these very old populations were set up in France at the beginning of the 1990s. A HETEROGENIC POPULATION: The results of these studies make it possible to describe centenarians as a heterogenic population mainly composed of women. Their functional health, their sensory performance, their limitations in daily life activities, their social and family integration, their cognitive functioning, are very varied. They appear as robust individuals who have triumphed over the hardships they have lived. LONGEVITY AND DEMENTIA: The French study has revealed that 35% of the women and 58% of the men are free from any suspicion of dementia according to Pfeiffer's screening test, which is encouraging if we consider the disastrous scenarios which could have been forecasted.