Summary
This geroscience review proposes that ageing and chronic age-related diseases share fundamental biological mechanisms and should be understood as a continuum rather than distinct entities. The authors argue that whether individuals experience accelerated or decelerated ageing depends on the interaction of genetic background with lifelong environmental and lifestyle factors, and use examples including frailty, sarcopenia, neurodegenerative disease, and Down syndrome as a progeroid model. The framework suggests that targeting the ageing process itself, rather than individual diseases, may be a more productive approach to geriatric medicine.
Regional applicability
The geroscience framework proposed here has direct relevance to UK clinical practice and policy, particularly as the NHS increasingly manages multimorbidity in ageing populations. Understanding age-related diseases as manifestations of variable ageing trajectories could inform preventive health strategies and resource allocation in UK healthcare systems.
Key measures
Conceptual framework distinguishing ageing trajectories (decelerated in centenarians; accelerated in those with early-onset disease; intermediate in the general population); mechanisms common to ageing and age-related diseases
Outcomes reported
The paper conceptualises age-related diseases and geriatric syndromes (frailty, sarcopenia, neurodegeneration, cancer) as manifestations of accelerated or decelerated ageing rather than discrete pathologies. It proposes that individual trajectories of ageing depend on genetic background interacting lifelong with environmental and lifestyle factors.
Topic tags
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