Measuring healthy ageing: current and future tools

Abstract

Human ageing is a complex, multifactorial process characterised by physiological damage, increased risk of age-related diseases and inevitable functional deterioration. As the population of the world grows older, placing significant strain on social and healthcare resources, there is a growing need to identify reliable and easy-to-employ markers of healthy ageing for early detection of ageing trajectories and disease risk. Such markers would allow for the targeted implementation of strategies or treatments that can lessen suffering, disability, and dependence in old age. In this review, we summarise the healthy ageing scores reported in the literature, with a focus on the past 5 years, and compare and contrast the variables employed. The use of approaches to determine biological age, molecular biomarkers, ageing trajectories, and multi-omics ageing scores are reviewed. We conclude that the ideal healthy ageing score is multisystemic and able to encompass all of the potential alterations associated with ageing. It should also be longitudinal and able to accurately predict ageing complications at an early stage in order to maximize the chances of successful early intervention.

Focus on senescence: Clinical significance and practical applications

“…If the organ-and disease-based molecules used in clinical routine have not changed substantially in the past decades, new -omics technologies have played a role in the development of blood biomarkersincluding epigenetic, proteomics, metabolomics, and lipidomic markers-which have emerged as correlates or predictors of health status, from disease to exceptional health [92]. Epigenetic clocks, for instance, have been under the scientific spotlight and used as age predictors, but the composite methylation status of various genomic loci has been tuned so far mainly to chronological age [93]. The same applies to other "clocks."…”

“…In contrast, the bulk of identified biomarkers proved to be not specific, measurable, available, relevant, and time-bound (SMART)-(enough) yet the evidence of the SASP has opened the door to the performance of intervention studies with a clear readout [96]. Within the frame of the gerosciencedriven Unitary Theory of Fundamental Aging Mechanisms, senescence predominates the scene of the hallmarks of aging, and much evidence has recently yielded the threshold theory of senescent cell accumulation [93]. This theory postulates that once senescent cell burden exceeds a threshold, the self-amplifying paracrine and endocrine spread of senescence through the SASP overcomes its immune clearance.…”

Editorial: Highlights in psychology of aging: non-pharmacological interventions for people at risk of or living with dementia

“…Aging is a natural, complex, and multifactorial phenomenon (Silva et al, 2023 ) that can be associated with a healthy or pathological progression. Moreover, aging can contribute to the degradation of cognitive functions, which leads to the onset of dementia.…”

“…Dementia is the seventh leading cause of death across the world. It is caused by various types of neurodegenerative disorders, with Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia being the most common underlying diseases (Reynolds et al, 2022 ; Lin et al, 2023 ; Silva et al, 2023 ; World Health Organization, 2023 ).…”