Headline messages from the briefing include:
- The ageing population is a growing challenge: By 2040, the number of people aged 85 and over in the UK is expected to double to 2.6 million. Two-thirds of adults over 65 are projected to live with multiple long-term health conditions.
- Geroscience offers a transformative approach: Rather than focusing solely on treating individual diseases, geroscience aims to address the underlying biological processes of ageing, potentially extending healthy lifespan and reducing the burden of age-related diseases.
- Economic and healthcare benefits: Implementing geroscience-informed interventions could lead to a compression of illness towards the very end of life, allowing individuals to experience an extended period of active and healthy living. This approach could ease strain on the NHS, as fewer chronic diseases and frailties mean resources can be redirected to prevention and acute care.
- Addressing health inequalities: Given the significant disparities in healthy life expectancy based on location and socioeconomic status, geroscience holds promise in providing tools to help decouple deprivation from poor health.
- Investment opportunities: With increased investment appetite from the public and private sectors, geroscience emerges as a compelling financial avenue, poised to attract inward investment and generate revenue through the exportation of drug discoveries made in the UK.
This work challenges the traditional view that ill health during ageing is inevitable, highlighting the potential of scientific advancements to enhance quality of life in older age.
Acknowledgements to Professor Dame Linda Partridge DBE FMedSci FRS, Dr Daniel Davis, Professor Lorna Harries and Professor Janet M Lord CBE FMedSci.