Healthspan:
Yes, that’s right: longevity research is no longer about living longer. “The aim is to keep people healthier before they die,” says Linda Partridge, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany. “It is sometimes called compressing morbidity.”
To put it another way, it is about extending “healthspan”, the number of disease-free years towards the end of life. That means keeping life expectancy the same, which for children born in 2019 in developed countries is 85, but being healthy for 84 years rather than decrepit for the final 10. [“Anti-ageing drugs are coming that could keep you healthier for longer,” Graham Lawton, NewScientist (27 April 2019, paywall)]
The article felt like a tease. However, the concept is extremely important for developed nations, as otherwise the demographics would become quite burdensome for the young.
