Summary: A study highlights significant improvements in the physical and mental functioning of older adults in England compared to previous generations. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, researchers found that advancements in education, nutrition, sanitation, and medical care have likely contributed to better health outcomes.
For instance, a 68-year-old born in 1950 exhibited similar capacities to a 62-year-old born a decade earlier. Parallel trends were observed in China, though with a shorter study period. However, researchers caution that these trends may not continue, with factors like rising obesity potentially reversing progress. The findings emphasize the modifiability of intrinsic capacities, offering optimism for healthy aging.
Key Facts:
- Generational Gains: Older adults today display significantly better physical and mental functioning than those from earlier generations at the same age.
- Influential Factors: Improvements in education, nutrition, sanitation, and medical advances contribute to these trends.
- Future Uncertainty: Rising challenges like obesity could potentially reverse these positive trends in aging.
Source: Columbia University
A new study from the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center at the Mailman School of Public Health reveals significant improvements in the health of older adults in England when compared to previous generations.
Rather than considering health through the presence or absence of disease, the study, published in Nature Aging, applied a new approach that examined trends in people’s functioning – their cognitive, locomotor, psychological, and sensory capacities.
Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, the study found that older adults today experience higher levels of physical and mental functioning than previous generations did at the same age.
“These improvements were large,” said John Beard, MBBS, PhD, Irene Diamond Professor of Aging in Health Policy and Management in the Butler Columbia Aging Center of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and author of the study.
For example, a 68-year-old born in 1950 had a similar capacity to a 62-year-old born a decade earlier, and those born in 1940 had better functioning than those born in 1930 or 1920.
Beard noted, “If we had compared someone born in 1950 with someone born in 1920, we would have likely observed even greater improvements.”
Beard and his colleagues undertook similar analyses in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). They found similar trends, although this analysis was limited by the much shorter follow-up period in the Chinese study compared to the English study.
Beard says that improvements in education, nutrition, and sanitation over the course of the twentieth century are likely to have played a key role. Medical advances—such as joint replacements and better treatments for chronic conditions—were also likely to be contributing factors.
The researchers caution, however, that their observations are for a specific period and in a single country. The same trends may not have been seen in the US, or across the whole of the population.
“We were surprised by just how large these improvements were, particularly when comparing people born after World War Two with earlier-born groups.” said Beard.
“But there is nothing to say we will continue to see the same improvements moving forward, and changes such as the increasing prevalence of obesity may even see these trends reverse.
It is also likely that more advantaged groups will have experienced greater gains than others. But overall, the trends were very strong and suggest that, for many people, 70 really may be the new 60.”
Aging expert Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois praised the study, stating, “This is a powerful article. It shows that intrinsic capacity—what really matters to people as they age—is inherently modifiable.
“With this evidence, we see that medical science can enhance intrinsic capacity, providing a hopeful message for the future.”
Co-authors are Katja Hanewald and Yafei Si, UNSW Business School, Sydney, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Aging Research (CEPAR), Australia; Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan, Department of Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Aging, World Health Organization, Geneva; and Dario Moreno-Agostino, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, and ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health, King’s College London.
Funding: The research was supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR, project CE170100005) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW); Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Society and Mental Health at King’s College London [ES/S012567/1]; and the National Social Science Foundation of China (23AZD091). Funding was also provided by the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG030153, RC2 AG036619, R03 AG043052), and (R01 AG030153, RC2 AG036619, and R03 AG043052).
About this aging and cognition research news
Author: Stephanie Berger
Source: Columbia University
Contact: Stephanie Berger – Columbia University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Cohort trends in intrinsic capacity in England and China” by John Beard et al. Nature Aging
Abstract
Cohort trends in intrinsic capacity in England and China
To understand how the health of older adults today compares to that of previous generations, we estimated intrinsic capacity and subdomains of cognitive, locomotor, sensory, psychological and vitality capacities in participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.
Applying multilevel growth curve models, we found that more recent cohorts entered older ages with higher levels of capacity, while subsequent age-related declines were somewhat compressed compared to earlier cohorts.
Trends were most evident for the cognitive, locomotor and vitality capacities. Improvements were large, with the greatest gains being in the most recent cohorts.
For example, a 68-year-old participant of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing born in 1950 had higher capacity than a 62-year-old born 10 years earlier.
Trends were similar for men and women and were generally consistent across English and Chinese cohorts. Possible causes include broad societal influences and improvements in medical care.
