The theory and practice of active aging

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• The traditional view of aging associates increased longevity with increased morbidity.
• A new paradigm, "active aging" or "Compression of Morbidity," aims to postpone functional decline and compress illness into a shorter period later in life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of vigorous physical activity and health risk factors on postponing disability and mortality.
• To compare the postponement of functional decline versus mortality in longitudinal aging studies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from two controlled longitudinal aging studies: the "Runners and Community Controls" study (began 1984) and the "Health Risk Cohorts" study (began 1986).
• Compared outcomes between vigorous exercisers and controls, and between low-risk and higher-risk cohorts.

Main Results:

• Vigorous exercisers experienced a postponement of disability by 14–16 years compared to controls.
• Low-risk cohorts showed a 10-year postponement of disability compared to higher-risk cohorts.
• Age at death was postponed by 7 years (at 30% mortality) and 3.3 years (at 50% median mortality) in runners versus controls, with disability postponement exceeding mortality postponement.

Conclusions:

• Active aging strategies, particularly vigorous exercise, effectively postpone disability and mortality.
• The postponement of functional decline is significantly greater than the postponement of mortality, supporting the Compression of Morbidity theory.