Overview

• A study using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing found that older adults today exhibit better physical and mental functioning than previous generations at the same age.
• For example, a 68-year-old born in 1950 has similar functional capacity to a 62-year-old born a decade earlier, with even larger improvements when comparing earlier generations.
• Key factors contributing to these trends include advancements in education, nutrition, sanitation, and medical care, such as joint replacements, cancer treatments, and better chronic disease management.
• Researchers caution that these trends may not continue, as rising obesity rates and socioeconomic disparities could reverse progress in healthy ageing.
• The findings, published in the journal Nature Aging, highlight the modifiability of intrinsic capacities and offer a hopeful outlook for enhancing health expectancy alongside life expectancy.