Successful aging: Is there hope?

摘要

The world's population is aging rapidly, the consequences of which will be substantial. By 2031, more than 20% of Canadians will be senior citizens. This trend risks overwhelming health and social support systems with millions of older adults, many of whom will have chronic pain, serious age-related diseases and disability. What advice can we give our patients to optimize their odds of aging with better health? Is there reason for hope? This is a challenging issue, with few evidence-based studies attempting to quantify healthy aging. Such studies must follow thousands of participants - usually for several decades - and must measure a variety of risk factors and aging-related outcomes to achieve reasonable statistical power and address the complexity of aging. The article by Sabia and colleagues features some fascinating findings from one such study - the UK-based Whitehall II Study. The Whitehall II Study began recruiting participants in 1985-1988 for an observational epi-demiologic study.