Researchers demand: “Prevent age-related diseases, not just treat them”

Germans are living longer and longer. According to the Federal Statistical Office, newborn girls reach an average age of 83 years and two months. Male infants live to 78 years and two months. Thus, life expectancy for both sexes has increased by more than one and a half years over the past ten years.

But how can healthy aging be achieved? This question was the topic of a press conference organized by the Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences based in Halle/Saale . The discussion focused on concepts for a new medicine in an aging society.

"Aging is a lifelong process," says Björn Schumacher from the Institute for Genome Stability in Aging and Disease and the CECAD Cluster of Excellence in Aging Research at the University of Cologne. "This process begins as early as early adulthood. Cells, tissues, organs—and the body is constantly working to repair the damage."

"Today, people are living longer, but their repair mechanisms haven't changed," he explains. "Therefore, the likelihood of us getting sick is increasing: dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer." Schumacher concludes: "If we better understand the causes of aging, age-related diseases could be prevented and we could age healthily."

Currently, baby boomers are retiring, "around a third of the population will be over 65 years old by then – and more than half will suffer from one or more chronic illnesses. This will overwhelm our social system in a relatively short time," warns the geriatrician.

To better study the biological processes of aging, Germany needs an interdisciplinary research consortium and a biodatabase, explains Schumacher. This will pool medical expertise across federal states and consolidate important data.

The availability, linking, and analysis of large amounts of data are crucial for better understanding biological aging processes, deriving environmental influences on aging, and developing potential geroprotective measures. So-called multi-omics data—combined biological data from various levels such as DNA, RNA, and proteins—can help develop biomarkers for aging.

This would open up numerous new approaches for medicine, for example, for the pharmacological treatment of aging. Schumacher: "There are already medications – such as those used to treat hypertension or type 2 diabetes – with positive effects in terms of geroprotection."

When it comes to aging research, animal welfare must also be regulated uniformly across Germany, says Oliver Tüscher of the University Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at Halle University Medical Center and the Leibniz Research Alliance on Aging and Resilience. This is "a prerequisite for developing new medications." Animal welfare is currently viewed too strongly from an agricultural perspective, rather than for medical research.

Psychologist Tüscher also sees great potential in geromedicine as a preventative medicine. He suggests that it should be included in the training of young physicians. It's also about a new awareness, about preventative care, which must begin at a young age. "Theoretically, we all know what's bad for us, but when we're young, the consequences aren't significant because they're usually not yet visible..."

Although geriatric medicine is still a young field, it has already achieved significant success, says Andrea Maier of the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. Chronic diseases that develop in old age can often be diagnosed as early as the age of 30 or 40. "If we know why we age, we can influence the process."

It's not about "extending lifespan, but rather healthspan," says Maier, who advocates a paradigm shift: aging itself must be the focus of medical practice, and thus the maintenance of health—not just the treatment of age-related diseases. "As life expectancy increases, the time we live healthy lives also increases."

Aging researcher Schumacher urges speed: “In view of the crisis in the healthcare system, which is also caused by the large number of people affected by multimorbidity,” the current timetable for the development of drugs must be accelerated until their implementation.

"We are racing toward an aging society," he emphasizes. If we continue our "dumping march," it will soon become difficult to live harmoniously together in society.

The discussion paper “Concepts for a new medicine in an ageing society – Perspectives for research and medical care” is published at www.leopoldina.org/alternsmedizin .