Strengthening the research on the key factors and related mechanisms of elderly health

Abstract

The process of population aging is gradually deepening, and the problems of disability, cognitive impairment and frailty are widely prevalent among the elderly in China. The key to healthy aging is to optimize functional ability, which is not only related to healthy people; many older adults suffer from one or more diseases, which do not affect their functional ability. The health of the elderly is affected by multi-dimensional factors such as heredity, environment, lifestyle, social behavior and mental psychology. Previous studies, focusing on the outcomes of death, diseases, functional ability and intrinsic capacity decline, have revealed a series of distribution characteristics and influencing factors, and found that there are special epidemiological characteristics on health among the oldest-old and are different from that in the general elderly. Nevertheless, there are still insufficient research to identify the key factors and related mechanisms of elderly health. This issue focused on the functional ability, intrinsic capacity and disease outcomes of the elderly, carried out analysis and research by using the data of national representative cohort and key areas, and made a series of explorations on the important factors and possible mechanisms of the elderly health, so as to provide scientific evidence for coping with population aging and health in China.