(HealthDay)—Use of an alternative measure for assessing the number of dependent older people suggests that the population aging crisis may have been overestimated, according to an analysis published online Nov. 12 in BMJ.
Noting that the standard indicator of population aging is the old age dependency ratio, or the number of people of state pension age, divided by the number of working age adults, Jeroen Spijker and John MacInnes, Ph.D., from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, first propose an alternative measure to assess the number of dependent older people and then discuss the implications for public health.
The authors suggest that remaining life expectancy is more important than age in terms of health-related attitudes and behaviors. Due to increasing life expectancy, many older people are healthier and fitter than their peers in earlier cohorts. Using a remaining life expectancy of ≤15 years as the threshold for dependency, there has been a decrease in dependency by more than one-third in the past forty years. Furthermore, the real elderly dependency ratio is set to decrease further and then stabilize around the current level.
"Medical staff will need to stay alert to the changing relation between 'old' and 'age' as life expectancy continues to increase and the typical onset of senescence and its associated morbidities is delayed," the authors write.
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(HealthDay)—Use of an alternative measure for assessing the number of dependent older people suggests that the population aging crisis may have been overestimated, according to an analysis published online Nov. 12 in BMJ.
Noting that the standard indicator of population aging is the old age dependency ratio, or the number of people of state pension age, divided by the number of working age adults, Jeroen Spijker and John MacInnes, Ph.D., from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, first propose an alternative measure to assess the number of dependent older people and then discuss the implications for public health.
The authors suggest that remaining life expectancy is more important than age in terms of health-related attitudes and behaviors. Due to increasing life expectancy, many older people are healthier and fitter than their peers in earlier cohorts. Using a remaining life expectancy of ≤15 years as the threshold for dependency, there has been a decrease in dependency by more than one-third in the past forty years. Furthermore, the real elderly dependency ratio is set to decrease further and then stabilize around the current level.
"Medical staff will need to stay alert to the changing relation between 'old' and 'age' as life expectancy continues to increase and the typical onset of senescence and its associated morbidities is delayed," the authors write.
Explore further: US health care: Does more spending yield better health?
More information: Full Text
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Medical Xpress on facebook
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Study finds the effects of population aging have been exaggerated
Sep 09, 2010
Due to increasing life-spans and improved health many populations are 'aging' more slowly than conventional measures indicate.
US health care: Does more spending yield better health?
May 22, 2013
(Medical Xpress)—Health care spending is much higher for older Americans than for younger adults and children, on average, and analysts have said that increasing spending leads to longer life expectancy.
Living long and healthy after 65 depends on state: CDC
Jul 18, 2013
(HealthDay)—Place and race influence healthy life expectancy at age 65, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
Population projections show strain in counties keeping quality of life
Oct 24, 2012
Traditionally, age demographics in each of South Dakota's 66 counties would resemble a pyramid: wide at the bottom for people in their younger years and narrow at the top for the older population.
Delayed aging is better investment than cancer, heart disease
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