In middle age and older, the difference between the perceived age and the actual age evaluated by face was found to be closely related to geriatric diseases.
A research team at Rotterdam University Hospital in the Netherlands reported in the British Journal of Dermatology that using large-scale prospective study data, looking younger than your actual age is associated with healthy cognitive as well as body functions.
There are many reports that late age is associated with various health indicators. There is also a report that if you look older than your age, indicators of cognitive function are low, and it is a risk factor for death. However, the number of subjects was small and the focus was on specific diseases.
The subjects of this study were 2,679 men and women living in the Netherlands. Perceived age was measured using only pictures of their faces without make-up.
They were divided into a group who looked younger than their actual age (893 people), a group similar to their actual age (893 people), and a group who looked taller (893 people), and analyzed the relevance of diseases associated with aging.
As a result, the younger looking group had less chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Osteoporosis was also rare, but was not associated with osteoarthritis risk.
There was little cataract, but it was not associated with vision impairment due to age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Hearing loss was also low, and was found to be particularly associated with cognitive function.
The research team described this study as “the largest scale that has examined the relationship between perceived age and age-related diseases.”
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