The problem of ageing populations, combined with decreasing birth rates, has been described by demographers and economists as a societal challenge similar in scale to climate change, with enormous impacts looming for many nations if left unaddressed. The latest ONS figures show that men can now expect to live 16.5 years in poor health, and women a staggering 19.8 years.īeyond unacceptable personal suffering, this places extreme pressure on both health-care systems and the economic models of advanced economies. In most advanced economies, healthy life expectancy (HLE, sometimes referred to as Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy) has not increased at the same pace as overall life expectancy (LE), and the years that people spend living with disability or disease have risen steadily. However, longer lives haven’t fully translated into healthier lives, and as we grow older the likelihood that we will live with debilitating chronic illness rises significantly. One of humanity’s greatest success stories of the past century is the increase in global life expectancy as a result of the social and medical advancements that have dramatically improved basic living conditions and reduced vulnerability to infectious diseases. By delaying the onset of age-related diseases, we have the opportunity not only to create a more positive, grounded and equitable vision of an ageing society, but to deliver healthier lives for each of us – a goal that’s surely worth pursuing.ĭr Nir Barzilai, Director, Institute for Aging Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research It sets out clear rationale for why policymakers must act now to seize this opportunity, as well as describing the most pressing action for governments globally. This paper highlights some of the most exciting innovations in longevity and why this field will be a major source of innovation during this century. Tackling the root causes of ageing offers great promise. This “longevity dividend” is potentially so significant that we must take immediate steps to accelerate efforts to address age-related diseases. The prize for radically extending healthy lifespans is enormous, both economically and in terms of public health. Yet this risk also presents an opportunity. The economic issues presented by ageing populations are existential in scale and, arguably, second only to the pressing climate challenges we face. Timing is of the essence: major demographic shifts mean that the economic and health-care structures created in the 20th century will not be able to support future generations. In fact, by targeting the biology of ageing, healthspans and lifespans have already been extended in numerous animal models, with some of the related drugs already in human use. Yet, what if we could instead focus on tackling ageing itself?īy uncovering the underlying mechanisms of ageing, we are on the cusp of being able to delay the onset of age-related conditions and confront the causes of degenerative diseases. Important breakthroughs often deliver an extra two or three years of healthy life, only for patients to then fall victim to yet another age-related disease. Today, the majority of medical research tackles each of these age-related illnesses individually and in turn. While the gradual decline of ageing has been seen as inevitable in the past, recent scientific advances suggest that it doesn’t have to be this way.Īge is one of the biggest risk factors in hospitalisations or death caused by many of the chronic illnesses plaguing developed nations, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. From antibiotics to stem-cell therapies, our ingenuity and determination to live longer and better lives have dramatically changed human experience over the past century. The technological leaps that have shaped our modern health-care systems are astonishing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |