Abstract
The progressive aging of the population represents a challenge for society. In particular, a strong increase in the number of people over 90 is expected in the next two decades. As this phenomenon will lead to an increase in illness and age-related dependency, the study of long-lived people represents an opportunity to explore which lifestyle factors are associated with healthy aging and which with the emergence of age-related diseases, especially Alzheimer’s type dementia. The project “Factors associated with healthy and pathologically aging in a sample of elderly people over 90 in the city of Madrid” (MADRID+90) brings together a multidisciplinary research team in neurodegenerative diseases that includes experts in epidemiology, neurology, neuropsychology, neuroimaging and computational neuroscience. In the first phase of the project, a stratified random sampling was carried out according to the census of the city of Madrid followed by a survey conducted on 191 people aged 90 and over. This survey gathered information on demographics, clinical data, lifestyles and cognitive status. Here, the main results of that survey are showed. The second phase of the project aims to characterize individual trajectories in the course of either healthy and pathological aging, from a group of 50 subjects over 90 who will undergo a comprehensive clinical examination comprised of neurological and cognitive testing, MRI and EEG. The ultimate goal of the project is to characterize the biophysical and clinical profiles of a population that tends to receive little attention in the literature. A better understanding of the rapidly increasing group of nonagenarians will also help to design new policies that minimize the impact and future social and economic consequences of rapidly aging societies.
Highlights
The progress made during the 20th century at the social, environmental and health care levels has led to a general improvement in the health status of the population and, to a reduction in mortality and a marked increase of life expectancy, which is expected to keep growing in the coming decades
The present paper describes the methodology of MADRID+90 and reports the results of the initial Wave 1 assessment to better understand the living conditions of this segment of the population
Significant differences were found between males and females, with males being more educated and having more skilled work, while females were older as well as widowed in a greater proportion than males (p
Summary
The progress made during the 20th century at the social, environmental and health care levels has led to a general improvement in the health status of the population and, to a reduction in mortality and a marked increase of life expectancy, which is expected to keep growing in the coming decades. The oldest-old subjects (i.e. individuals aged 90+) will number more than 70 million worldwide in 2050, a 5-fold increase over the current number of this population [1, 2]. This increment may lead to an unprecedented increase in the number of people suffering from age-related diseases. In such a scenario, dementia is predicted to occupy an important and unwelcoming place. The prevalence of dementia after age 90 is projected to increase to 40% of the total oldest-old population [3]
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