增加健康预期寿命：老年科学的政策影响

Increasing healthy life expectancy:the policy implications of geroscience The UK’s demographic and health landscapes are undergoing a profoundtransformation characterised by a steadily ageing population and the rising prevalenceof health conditions associated with older age. Geroscience offers a promisingapproach to extend healthy lifespan, reduce healthcare burdens and enhance This policy briefing explores the emerging field ofgeroscience, a scientific discipline at the intersection ofbasic ageing biology, chronic disease and frailty, which offersthe potential to revolutionise how we maintain health andindependence in old age1. In the next 20 years, the numberof people aged 85 and over in the UK will double to 2.6million2, and two-thirds of adults aged over 65 are expected Economically, improved health enables more individualsto remain in the workforce for longer, boosting productivityand alleviating financial pressures on the young to supportthe old. Given the significant inequalities in healthy lifeexpectancy based on location and socioeconomic status,geroscience also holds promise in providing tools to help This policy briefing was drafted by staff at the Royal Societyin collaboration with biology of ageing expert ProfessorDame Linda Patridge, Vice-President of the Royal Society,and Chair of the Royal Society’s Geroscience WorkingGroup, as an outcome of a conference that convenedthe UK’s leading geroscientists and stakeholders across Implementing geroscience-informed interventions couldlead to numerous benefits for the UK and its population.With a compression of illness towards the very end of life,individuals can experience an extended period of active The field of geroscience offers significant potential forpromoting healthy ageing. To realise these promises, wemust ensure that scientific endeavours are: (1) bolstered bya collaborative and interdisciplinary research and innovationecosystem focussed on the ageing process as a whole,that can spur change and catalyse progress; (2) fuelled byambitious and long-term funding to attract talent and foster This situation is of utmost concern in some rural andcoastal areas where the concentration of deprivation andolder age is driving an even greater proportion of disease The consequences of living with multiple health conditionscan be profound. Individuals suffering from several conditionsexperience poorer quality of life, loss of independence andgreater risk of premature death. As the number of people withmultimorbidity grows, so will the pressures on many aspectsof the economy, including labour markets, economic outputs,pensions, government tax revenue and public servicespending. More than two-fifths of national health spending in The UK’s population is getting older and sicker As with most other advanced economies, the UK’s populationis ageing. By 2066 it is projected that there will be around 5.1million people over the age of 85 living in the UK, an increaseof around 3.5 million from 20164. In contrast, the populationof working-age is likely to remain relatively static. Despiteimprovements in life expectancy, healthy life expectancyhas not kept pace – meaning that there is an increasingperiod of ill health at the end of people’s lives. Between2000 and 2019, it is estimated that the average proportionof life spent in poor health has increased from 10.3 years to Living healthier for longer Traditionally, medical research has focussed on thediagnosis and treatment of ageing-related diseases on anindividual basis – meaning that patients with multimorbidityare often cared for by doctors in different specialities andlikely to be taking multiple drugs to control their illnesses(which poses risks including adverse drug interactions andincreased healthcare costs). The geroscience approachrepresents a paradigm shift in that it explores the possibilityof targeting the biological mechanisms of the ageing There are significant inequalities in terms of both lifeexpectancy and healthy life expectancy based on locationand socioeconomic status. Inequalities are substantialacross all four nations – with a nearly 22-year healthy 4.Chief Medical Officer. Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report. 2023.Health in an ageing society. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65562ff2d03a8d000d07faa6/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-2023-web-accessible.pdf (accessed 15 January 2024).5.World Health Organization.Health expectancy and healthy life expectancy.https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/indicator-groups/indicator-group-details/GHO/life-expectancy-and-healthy-life-expectancy. (accessed 1 February 2024).6.Guo Jet al. 2022 Ageing and ageing-related diseases: from molecular mechanisms to interventions and treatments.Signal Transduction andTargeted Therapy7. (doi:10.1038/s41392-022-01251-0).7.The Health Foundation.Health life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at birth by deprivation. https://www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub/health- Much geroscienc