The Health Aspect of Aging

Introduction:
The world is changing its demography and as long alas the past is in records, the young
people are much more than middle age people of around 65 ages. The result of the
decreasing reproduction and increased life span is that population will grow old and will
also increase. People live more and in some areas of the world they have better lifestyles.
This is the most important advancement of the previous century but this is also very
challenging as the long life span needs some planning. The significant increase in the life
span in the last years are resulted due to different reasons of death and diseases, at the
start 1900 the main medical risk was the infections and the parasites that led to death of
many children. However, in todays world, there are non-contagious diseases that are
claiming the older people and causing pressure on the worldwide health. As the old
population is going through decreased mortality rates, the number of aged people above
80 years has been increasing and people are now living above 100 years. The restrictions
of the lifespan are not clear as it was observed. Further there is also some proof from the
international information that suitable schemes and programs can make people stay
healthy and good in older age and hence they can also participate in the society and
family. The great elevation in the normal life span in the last century suggests that one of
the children born in 20th century couldnt live above 50 years and now the lifespan is
above 83 years in Japan i.e. the present country to lead. Many other countries have also
the lifespan of 81 years. Less progressed areas of the world have seen a consistent
elevation in the life span after the World War II, even when not whole parts have seen the
growth (One significant differ case is the decrease in the lifespan of some areas in Africa
as the death is due to AIDS). The most drastic and prompt changes have been seen in East
Asia in which the life span has been elevated from 45 years to 74 years from 1950 to
present day.
- The success for fighting the infections and contagious diseases are seen in many
medical projects of the last century which gives immunity to majority of people to fight
smallpox, polio and other diseases that kill infants. Even before that, some good living
facilities like better diet and clean portable water led to decrease in the infections and
stopped mortality rate in the infants. Many children were getting past that age of
vulnerability and reached the adult age. Further, 60 percent progress was seen in the life
span of women in the progressed countries from 1850 to 1900 as more children lived to
the age 15 and in 29th century the death rate began to drop in the elderly people. Study
with different health projects depict an unusual and consistent betterment in the lifespan
of the people over the age of eighty or even more 1.
Increasing pressure of non-contagious diseases
-
Dangerous non-contagious diseases are the result of alterations in the food and
living and also in the aging. The possible expense of the non-contagious disease
1 http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/global_health.pdf
of this kind has been increased with the age and these can impact more on the
economy.
-the possibility of a participating and healthful elder age is threatened by a really

expensive result of the longer lifespan as the number of people with memory loss have
been increased that require consistent attention and assistance with primary actions of
daily life that puts too much pressure on the society and economy. When the person
grows older, the chances of the memory loss also increase. It is expected that 25-30% of
the population between age 85 or more will have memory loss. If more new drugs and
treatments are not discovered, this disease is estimated to increase hugely within the older
people in America and across the globe2.
-Damaging diseases are much related to the age than other dangerous diseases and these
diseases also get worse with time. For instance, a bone degenerative disease affect almost
one of the three females and one in five males however, it doesnt happen mostly before
the age of fifty. .
- Mental conditions are also the great focus in the elderly people. Normally people have
some depression and anxiety in which a persons daily routine is disturbed for a longer
period of time and almost one in six people are affected over 65 ages with this problem.
In a number of countries, the occurrence of suicide increase when the population grows
older and this is predominant in men over the age of 75. This might be because of
loneliness and a person might have been feeling useless3.
-Non-contagious diseases put a lot of pressure of diseases on the poor countries and also
some contagious diseases exist because of some nutritional situations. It is expected till
20130 regarding study that the pressure of non-contagious diseases will account for half
of the total occurrences and the contagious diseases occurrences will decrease to only
32%. If only the elderly people are given focus, the non contagious diseases put a
pressure of 87% percent on people above 60 of age in the poor or middle income
countries. This is the serious problem of these poor or middle income countries and they
also face trouble in using or acquiring the resources to deal with the non-contagious
diseases as they also have to deal with the contagious diseases4.
Increasing pressure on health system
3 http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/eb/Philips_Healthcare_ageing_3011WEB.pdf
4https://www.google.ae/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKE
wiouay9ybTRAhWBbxQKHWQhBxcQFggoMAI&url=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.nia.nih.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles
%2FWPAM.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFNzc5E8fQZ63S6Wpc7GadZBPyhDg&sig2=edMR
h3TMWRzZoW_lTBwpmQ&bvm=bv.142059868,d.d24
- The shift has been seen in demography and its effects are less on the medial expenses as
it is normally perceived. The truth is the birth and demise is the major medical expense in
most of peoples life. The last two years before a persons demise cost total one by fourth
of the total expense with no regards to the age at the time of death. Even when there is a
relation between the age and the medical expenses, the expense increase dramatically in
the age above 65 as majority of the people experience death in this age.
.
The actual cost problem regarding the age is a decline in the number of population in the
labor force. The effect of this is quite more than just medical. However, still the elderly
people are not the major key drivers of the medical expenses; the medical care is given as
the yearly restriction. This can also affect the abilities of the communities of what they
can give to the elderly people.
The companies that give funding for the healthcare of the elderly people like the
Medicare in the America, much population of this age bracket cause much more expense.
However, the international medical care companies, the case is not really plain. Quite
much study in the previous year shows that only considering the age as the impact factor
in the expense of healthcare is not justified. Another important thing is that the medical
care has expense on the average person that increase drastically in a year or two prior to
demise with no regards to the age of person near death. Further, this expense on the dying
people, accounts for the major part of the total life medical costs. This is only a
perception that elderly people have more expenses on the medical conditions as most of
the people see demise in that age.
In the retrospect, the medical costs of a person in whole life, the unusual problem to
cover is much related with the age. Communities having more people of old age for
instance, are also potentially richer. Riches are the indicators of more expenses of the
medical care so it is difficult to identify5.
Decreasing of the disability is the major factor in the medical expenses. The medical and
economical pressure of the disability can be seen or increased with the factors of
environment that can be seen if the elderly person stays active even with the physical
disability. If the person can stay active for a longer time the expenses for the medical
stays less for the society and family6.
-Technology contributes much in giving a hand for the old people as now the
telemedicine and computerized healthcare system are quite helpful and are used at large
scale. These systems provide help and safety. It also helps the medical staff to give
suggestions and to check out the patients important symptoms. This also provides the
medical staff enough time to consider the significant chores more. However, the
technological advancement is not the only solution. Some people dont feel safe with the
technology and they require their hesitation to be death with human help rather than some
machines7.
Changing scenario of work and retirement
- A dominant focus of the economy in the elderly population is decreasing the labor fore
in relation to the strength of the captives. Normally, this number decreases as people stay
alive more and they are not much active in the work area. From the mid of 1900 to 1980s,
the activity of the people of old age decreased in the work field in almost all he
progressed countries. However, in the start of the last decade of 20 th century, this pattern
changed. The females in the progressed countries began to work more in the elderly age
and the number is increasing in the previous twenty years. However, information from
the less progressed countries is not very uniform and normally the men of old age trend to
work less but the trend is increasing for the elderly females8.
-On the large scale, the concept that the population feels better to quite the work and stay
at home in the middle of 60s when they are still active and at good health is much
prevalent. Apart from the assistance help with the capacity decline and the cost burden by
giving the taxes for long time, some other medical benefits are there according to a
research that shows that better mind conditions give benefit to part time work even after
retiring9. The age of the official retiring has been elevated, so much focus is given to the
working f the old people. Hence, the consistent education, the work field structure, and
part time jobs chances for old people will be much significant. Increasing age of retiring,
also get focus for the chances of early retirement.
-a main problem for the scheme makers in this aspect of pension funds is the link
between the statutory age of retirement and the real age of retirement i.e. the normal age
at which the people get retired. Even in the previous pattern of increase work from the
old people, an important difference is present in the official and real age of retirement.
This pattern is quite dominant particularly in progressing countries10.
Challenges
- Age is happening with any other society patterns that can impact on the life of the
elderly population. Economy is growing globally and population prefers to stay in the
urban areas and the technological advances are being made. The pattern of the
demography and family shows that, there will be fewer numbers of elderly people in the
family, seeking for attention. Now people have small families and they dont give
preference to marriage and prefer less to stay with the older people. When there is less
help from the society, much data and help is needed to make sure that increasing old
population is well-taken care of. .
- Progressing countries will require making adaption with this fact. Many less progressed
countries provide safety of old population and healthcare is given with no increased time
of economy growth that is seen by the older people of the western countries.
,
Hence, it can be said that some countries may get older people even before they have
some richer population11.
The change in the certain medical requirements of the elderly people will need more
changes. A big problem is for the scheme makers and the medical care services need
more training. In simple terms, people will not take it as an important career unless this
field is given the consideration. Harvard Medical School didnt require training in
geriatrics for the medical students until 2 years ago. In a number of countries the
geriatrics training is not even given12.
Additional resources:
http://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/PDRSupplements/Vol30_Aging/PDR30SuppWaite.pdf
12
http://graphics.eiu.com/upload/eb/Philips_Healthcare_ageing_3011WEB.pdf

The Health Aspect of Aging

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Health Aspect of Aging

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Introduction:

-the possibility of a participating and healthful elder age is threatened by a really

You might also like