Towards a multidimensional healthy ageing phenotype

Abstract

Purpose of Review: There is great interest in developing tools to measure healthy ageing and to identify early stages of health impairment which may guide the implementation of interventions to prevent or delay the development of disease, disability and mortality. Here we review the most recent developments directed to operationalise, and test, definitions of healthy ageing. Recent Findings:There is lack of consensus about how to define healthy ageing and, unsurprisingly, diversity in the instruments for its measurement. However, progress is being made in describing and in devising tools to capture the healthy ageing phenotype. Attempts to measure healthy ageing have relied primarily on cross-sectional data collected in older people. More recent studies have assessed the healthy ageing phenotype using markers of multiple functional domains and have used longitudinal data to model the dynamics and trajectories of healthy ageing. Summary:Given the complexity of the ageing process, no single measure is able to predict the ageing trajectory. Current attempts to operationalise the healthy ageing phenotype have relied on markers and data from earlier cohort studies and are limited by the tools used to collect data in those studies. Such data are often unsuitable to detect early subtle declines in function and/ or are inappropriate for use in younger old-adults. Future studies employing more objective and novel markers of healthy ageing are likely to offer opportunities to define and operationalise the healthy ageing phenotype.

Serial circulating omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and healthy ageing among older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study: prospective cohort study

“…With rapid ageing of populations globally and an increased prevalence of chronic disease, 1 2 focus on longevity alone is shifting toward an emphasis on healthy ageing. 3 In contrast with years of total life, healthy ageing can be considered as living a meaningful lifespan without chronic diseases and with intact physical and mental function. 4 5 This measure builds on the concept of positive deviance, 6 identifying people resistant to failure amongst their peers, and more importantly, new modifiable determinants of this resistance.…”

The influence of physical Activity on handgrip strength of elderly

“…In order to achieve a complete state of health among the elderly and consequently reduce the costs of health care systems, governments and societies started to develop policies for healthy ageing, aiming not only at prolonging the life, but as well as to improving it [5]. It has been proven to be a diffi cult task to reach a consensus on how healthy ageing should be defi ned [6]. But, after WHO published the World report on ageing and health, healthy ageing was defi ned as "functional ability to be and do what an older person has reason to value" [7].…”

Measuring successful aging: an exploratory factor analysis of the InCHIANTI Study into different health domains

“…al . [6] as well as looking at more recently developed models [28,46–49]. The final selection (Table 1) was based on expert opinion by the research team.…”

“…In order to understand whether any intervention aimed at promoting healthy aging is effective, a benchmark for the assessment of healthy aging is needed. Therefore, the development of tools to measure successful aging, and to timely identify the early stages of health impairment, has become a research priority [6]. Developing such tools however, is a challenge, as aging is a complex process and it is unlikely that a single measure will be able to track the aging trajectory, particularly early in life, when disease symptoms and functional limitations are still rare [6].…”

“…Therefore, the development of tools to measure successful aging, and to timely identify the early stages of health impairment, has become a research priority [6]. Developing such tools however, is a challenge, as aging is a complex process and it is unlikely that a single measure will be able to track the aging trajectory, particularly early in life, when disease symptoms and functional limitations are still rare [6]. Furthermore, testing the validity of tools to measure healthy aging is complicated due to the lack of an agreed upon definition of healthy aging [6], as well as discrepancies in the terminology describing this concept.…”