The World report on ageing and health: a policy framework for healthy ageing

Although populations around the world are rapidly ageing, evidence that increasing longevity is being accompanied by an extended period of good health is scarce. A coherent and focused public health response that spans multiple sectors and stakeholders is urgently needed. To guide this global response, WHO has released the first World report on ageing and health, reviewing current knowledge and gaps and providing a public health framework for action. The report is built around a redefinition of healthy ageing that centres on the notion of functional ability: the combination of the intrinsic capacity of the individual, relevant environmental characteristics, and the interactions between the individual and these characteristics. This Health Policy highlights key findings and recommendations from the report.

[1]  J. Stockman,et al.  Inequalities in healthy life years in the 25 countries of the European Union in 2005: a cross-national meta-regression analysis , 2010 .

[2]  Aubrey Sheiham,et al.  Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. A report of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) 2008. , 2009, Community dental health.

[3]  Michael E. Miller,et al.  A physical activity intervention to treat the frailty syndrome in older persons-results from the LIFE-P study. , 2015, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[4]  D L McGee,et al.  Recent Changes in the Health Status of the Older U.S. Population: Findings from the 1984 and 1994 Supplement on Aging , 2001, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[5]  J. Spagnoli,et al.  Prevalence of frailty in middle-aged and older community-dwelling Europeans living in 10 countries. , 2009, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[6]  Annette Scherpenzeel,et al.  The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe , 2005, Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging.

[7]  R. Rajasuriar,et al.  Inflammatory Co-morbidities in HIV+ Individuals: Learning Lessons from Healthy Ageing , 2014, Current HIV/AIDS Reports.

[8]  Wendy J Brown,et al.  Cohort Profile: the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. , 2005, International journal of epidemiology.

[9]  J. Rowe,et al.  Successful aging. , 1998, Aging.

[10]  Kenneth S Boockvar,et al.  Recent trends in chronic disease, impairment and disability among older adults in the United States , 2011, BMC geriatrics.

[11]  A. Dey World report on ageing and health , 2017, The Indian Journal of Medical Research.

[12]  P. Kowal,et al.  Health service use, out-of-pocket payments and catastrophic health expenditure among older people in India: The WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) , 2015, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

[13]  Perianayagam Arokiasamy,et al.  Data resource profile: the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE). , 2012, International journal of epidemiology.

[14]  A. Omran The epidemiologic transition. A theory of the epidemiology of population change. , 1971, The Milbank Memorial Fund quarterly.

[15]  Eileen M. Crimmins,et al.  Disability trends among older Americans: National Health And Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1988-1994 and 1999-2004. , 2010, American journal of public health.

[16]  D. Leon,et al.  Trends in European Life Expectancy: a Salutary View Former Communist Countries of Eastern Europe , 2022 .

[17]  S. Wyke,et al.  Epidemiology of multimorbidity and implications for health care, research, and medical education: a cross-sectional study , 2012, The Lancet.

[18]  A. Omran The epidemiologic transition: a theory of the epidemiology of population change. 1971. , 2005, The Milbank quarterly.

[19]  J. Vaupel,et al.  Ageing populations: the challenges ahead , 2009, The Lancet.

[20]  L. Fried,et al.  Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. , 2001, The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences.

[21]  S. Andrieu,et al.  Preventable Iatrogenic Disability in Elderly Patients During Hospitalization. , 2015, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.

[22]  K. Manton,et al.  Change in chronic disability from 1982 to 2004/2005 as measured by long-term changes in function and health in the U.S. elderly population , 2006, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[23]  E. Mohammadi,et al.  Barriers and facilitators related to the implementation of a physiological track and trigger system: A systematic review of the qualitative evidence , 2017, International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care.

[24]  S. Iliffe,et al.  Frailty in elderly people , 2013, The Lancet.

[25]  H. Brodaty,et al.  A systematic review of different models of home and community care services for older persons , 2011, BMC health services research.

[26]  Sharon Friel,et al.  Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health , 2008, The Lancet.

[27]  K. Eklund,et al.  Outcomes of coordinated and integrated interventions targeting frail elderly people: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. , 2009, Health & social care in the community.

[28]  David E Bloom,et al.  Towards a comprehensive public health response to population ageing , 2015, The Lancet.

[29]  Antonio Lobo,et al.  Dementia in western Europe: epidemiological evidence and implications for policy making , 2016, The Lancet Neurology.

[30]  Stephanie Studenski,et al.  Geriatric Syndromes: Clinical, Research, and Policy Implications of a Core Geriatric Concept , 2007, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[31]  J. Robine,et al.  Comparative value of medical diagnosis versus physical functioning in predicting the 6-year survival of 1951 hospitalized old patients. , 2008, Rejuvenation research.

[32]  Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez,et al.  Mortality and morbidity trends: is there compression of morbidity? , 2011, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[33]  M. Kohli,et al.  Differences in life expectancy due to race and educational differences are widening, and many may not catch up. , 2012, Health affairs.

[34]  S. Chatterji,et al.  The impact of multimorbidity on adult physical and mental health in low- and middle-income countries: what does the study on global ageing and adult health (SAGE) reveal? , 2015, BMC Medicine.

[35]  D. Kindig,et al.  Disparities in Premature Mortality Between High- and Low-Income US Counties , 2012, Preventing chronic disease.

[36]  Susan T Stewart,et al.  US trends in quality-adjusted life expectancy from 1987 to 2008: combining national surveys to more broadly track the health of the nation. , 2013, American journal of public health.

[37]  Martin McKee,et al.  Population ageing and health , 2012, The Lancet.

[38]  David E. Bloom,et al.  7 Billion and Counting , 2011, Science.

[39]  Chris Ham,et al.  The ten characteristics of the high-performing chronic care system , 2010, Health Economics, Policy and Law.

[40]  Holger Strulik,et al.  Patterns of Frailty in Older Adults: Comparing Results from Higher and Lower Income Countries Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) , 2013, PloS one.

[41]  L. Fratiglioni,et al.  Aging with multimorbidity: A systematic review of the literature , 2011, Ageing Research Reviews.

[42]  D. Gasper What is the capability approach?: Its core, rationale, partners and dangers , 2007 .

[43]  G. Lafortune,et al.  Trends in Severe Disability Among Elderly People: Assessing the Evidence in 12 OECD Countries and the Future Implications , 2007 .

[44]  B. Finch,et al.  Trends in US older adult disability: exploring age, period, and cohort effects. , 2012, American journal of public health.

[45]  Somnath Chatterji,et al.  Ageing 3 Health, Functioning, and Disability in Older Adults—present Status and Future Implications , 2022 .

[46]  D. Schopflocher,et al.  Attitudes to aging mediate the relationship between older peoples’ subjective health and quality of life in 20 countries , 2013, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes.