Older people more likely to report being in good health, particularly if they are white, wealthy and better educated

A new study has found that people age 65 and up report feeling significantly healthier than their counterparts did nearly two decades ago.

Or at least, some do. Investigators found that most of the gains in self-identified health were among white people with high incomes and higher levels of education.

“By focusing on good health rather than poor health, we can think of health as an asset much like wealth, where the goal is to be at higher levels,” said Matthew Davis, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and a health services researcher at the University of Michigan.

“We found that, by taking this new approach, health disparities among seniors became strikingly clear,” he added.

Full findings appear in JAMA International Medicine.