[The health status of elderly citizens--results of a survey of applicants of a retirement or nursing home].

This report includes empirical findings of a questionnaire based survey in which several aspects of health status of older proposer for relocation to old-age institutions (N = 1281) in district of Schwerin were examined. In addition this contribution represents a perspective of social gerontological discussion on concepts of health and illness. Some implications of this perspective for further research and practice are described in short statements at the end of the contribution.