Introduction: Satisfactory sleep has many positive benefits for older adults1,2; it may produce daytime wakefulness and reduce the risk of falls3. Sleep complaints and falls are both common with advancing age and negative determinants for health4. However, their relationship with good health or improving health has not been clearly established. The aim of this presentation is to discuss sleep and fall predictors of positive self-rated health among people (n=656, > 78 years), who participated in the longitudinal and multi-centre cohort study, The Swedish National study on Ageing and Care (SNAC), in 2001 and 20045. Positive odds ratio is used in the logistic regression analyses instead of commonly used Odds ratio.

Method: Research synthesis from a longitudinal, multi-centre cohort study, 2001 and 2004.

Results: Findings indicate that younger age, no fear of falling, no problem with balance, or no difficulties sleeping because of mood were associated with positive health, in the model that was adjusted for age, gender and co-morbidity.

Conclusion: It is important to target older adults who are at risk of losing their balance and have low mood to prevent future health problems with advancing age. Also, the use of positive odds ratios appears to be useful when identifying positive health among older people.