Toward successful aging: The Chinese Health Criteria for the Elderly

The Chinese Association of Geriatric Medicine proposed a set of criteria, The Health Criteria for the Elderly, to measure senior health. These criteria have their origins in the efforts in the past several decades to define successful aging. Successful aging theories, including the disengagement theory, the activity theory, and the continuity theory, represent sets of constructs on what elements constitute satisfactory aging and how it can be achieved. Rowe and Kahn's framework for successful aging emphasizes the impact of lifestyle choices on aging outcomes. The proposed health criteria for Chinese seniors may be too restrictive to be used as clinical guidelines. Instead, they can be promoted as goals of healthy aging in public education programs or serve as parameters to evaluate the effect of health policies and healthcare delivery models on the elderly population.