Objectives: Sweden has one of the highest proportions ofpeople aged over 80 in the world and life expectancy at higherages is continuing to increase. At the beginning of the 21stcentury a Swedish study of the oldest old showed an increase inhealth problems in this group between 1992 and 2002. Thisstudy looks at data gathered in 2010/2011 to see if the healthstatus in this very old population has continued to deteriorate.Material and methods: The question was tested with theSwedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old(SWEOLD) — a nationally representative interview survey ofpeople aged 77+ (n~600). SWEOLD has a high response rate andincludes institutionalized persons and persons, for example withcognitive impairments, who are interviewed indirectly using aproxy.Results: Several health indicators, including objective tests ofphysical and lung function, showed a significant worsening ofhealth for both women and men between 1992 and 2002. Newcross-sectional analyses show neither an improvement nordeterioration in self reported health problems. For example,reports of pain in the shoulders, back pain, problems climbingthe stairs, anxiety and nervousness, have not changed significantlysince 2002. Also the proportion of people reporting poorself-rated health has been stable at a level of about 12% overthe years 2002, 2004 and 2010/2011. By contrast, the objectivetest of lung function has continued to worsen over this period.Conclusions: The preliminary conclusions are that the deteriorationof health seen between 1992 and 2002 has not continued.Nor are there any signs of improvement, at least whenconsidering subjective measures. These results will be discussedwith a special emphasis on the type of health outcomes, genderdifferences and methodological issues.