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Healthy aging can work
On average, people in Germany today are significantly older than a few decades ago. However, the question still remains unclear in which health status these additional years of life are spent. Scientists of the Hannover Medical School (MHH) are investigating this in the project "Morbidity Compression", for which first results are now available. Thus, heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer are on the decline, but diabetes mellitus type 2 and multimorbidity have increased significantly.
In their research, the scientists investigate whether we are gaining healthy years of life as our life expectancy increases, or whether we are spending the extra lifetime in ill health. The answer is quite reassuring: "We are growing healthier," says Professor Dr. med. Siegfried Geyer, head of the MHH project and medical sociology.
Life expectancy has been steadily rising and we are getting healthier old, as the pleasing result of a recent study. In diabetes and multimorbidity, however, an increased occurrence is observed. (Image: Robert Kneschke / fotolia.com) Data from three million people examined
Since 2013, the project "morbidity compression" is running, for which the data of three million insured persons of the AOK Lower Saxony are evaluated. The data cover a period of ten years (2006 to 2015). The project is financially supported by the AOK Lower Saxony and the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and now the first results are available. According to the report, today 22 percent fewer men suffer heart attacks, strokes or lung cancer than they did ten years ago. In addition, those affected at the time of the disease are around 66 years old, about one year older than ten years ago.
Reduced risk of heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer
The risk of dying from a heart attack, stroke or lung cancer has also fallen by 22 percent, MHH reports. In women, the already lower risk of suffering from one of the three conditions has even been reduced by more than 30 percent in ten years. However, they were the same age as they used to be (76 years on average) and they also died of the disease just as often, according to the MHH.
Diabetes disorders are becoming more common
While lung cancer, strokes and heart attacks tend to decline, type 2 diabetes mellitus is fundamentally different. According to the researchers, rising disease rates among the population are found here, especially among the under-40s. "However, you can treat this disease better than before, so that you can live longer with it," emphasizes Professor Geyer. In addition, the risk of illness decreases with increasing educational attainment. "Diabetes is a lifestyle problem, especially overweight and exercise are major problems," the study director continues.
Increasing multimorbidity
Also the so-called multimorbidity is increasing in the population, according to the researchers. More and more people are affected by six or more diseases at the same time, some of which must be treated with drugs, but with which they can live well. These include, for example, hypertension. Whether multimorbidity will inevitably increase as other diseases such as heart attack, stroke, and lung cancer decrease remains open. In next steps, the question should be clarified, "whether there is a shift from a few large to many small diseases that occur later," said Prof: Geyer.
Flexibility of the retirement age required
All in all, according to Professor Geyer, the results speak in favor of "making the retirement age more flexible", because a job requiring a high level of physical exertion would make an early retirement age appropriate, while in the case of predominantly mental work, it might make sense to push the limit higher. "But it's also about how a society should deal with old people in order to maintain their activity and mental agility for a long time," adds the expert. In order to stay physically and mentally healthy in old age, athletic and mental activity is particularly important. Resources should be preserved, for example through regular reading and social activities with communication. (Fp)