Aging and biomedicine 2005: Where should we go from here?

Abstract

Aging has become a central issue in science and society in view of demographic changes anticipated in the next decades due to longevity and low birth rates [1–3]. The steady growth of the world's population from approximately 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.4 billion today is expected to increase even further to more than 9 billion by 2050 [4] (Fig. 1). The reasons for living longer [5] involve a decline in old-age mortality [6] due to advances in disease management and drug discovery, which have been made possible through continued economic stability. However, despite these advances, today's clinical practice faces an increasing number of geriatric patients with multi-morbidity that requires special care adjusted to the high age of the patients. Fig. 1 Projected development of the world population. In addition to an expected growth of the world population from currently 6.2 billion to more than 9 billion in 2050, individuals aged 50 years and older will increase by a factor of 2 to 5 in both men and women, resulting in a pronounced shift in the overall population profile. Adapted from data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, International Programs Center, International Data Base [5]. Age remains the main cause of death after age 28 in industrialized nations [7]. The majority of aging theories favors cumulative injury resulting in cellular senescence as a causative mechanism [8]. This results in genomic … *Tel.: +41 1 255 5663; fax: +41 1 255 8747. Email address: barton{at}usz.ch