Life conditions of Sicilian centenarians.

Aim of the study was at furnishing a description of the socio-economic reality of Sicilian centenarians. Informations were taken from the records of Italian Multicentric Study on Centenarians. Randomly selected 28 centenarians (8 males, 20 females), in the age range 100-108 years from Eastern Sicily were examined. The following average socioeconomic profile of the centenarians was established: they are widows or widowers with 4 children; have primary education, mediocre socioeconomic conditions, have worked in the fields or had been housewives; their hobbies were before gardening or embroidering and sewing and now is watching TV; they live in their own salubrious 4 roomed house in small center in the hills. These observations reveal that the social and intellectual quality of life is better in cases of centenarian subjects living at home, in their family environment, surrounded by their children and grandchildren as they receive greater affection and physical care than those living in old peoples' homes.