The North East is to be the focus of the most detailed study ever undertaken to try to identify the biological, social and medical factors that enable people to stay healthy in their old age.
The Newcastle 85+ Study is being conducted by a team at Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health, led by expert on ageing, Professor Tom Kirkwood and Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Dr Joanna Collerton, with funding from the Medical Research Council.
The team is aiming to recruit 800 people who have their 85th birthday this year to take part in the study, with the help of general practices from Newcastle and North Tyneside Primary Care Trusts.
The study will look in-depth at the biological process of ageing. Previous studies have shown that genes account for about 25 per cent of the ageing process, but the remaining 75 per cent is believed to be due to factors such as nutrition, lifestyle and socioeconomic status. As yet, the impact of these biological and environmental factors has not been determined with any precision.
Contrary to forecasts, life expectancy has continued to increase by about two years every decade – or five hours a day.
Dr Collerton said: ‘A striking feature of biological ageing is its marked variability between individuals, and the first step in this study will be to determine what is a healthy 85-year-old. Relatively little information is available about the health of people in this age group, so this project will enable us to study in detail what is happening to the health of the very old. This is important not only because people of 85 years and over make up the fastest growing sector of the population, but also for what it will tell us about the ageing process and the factors that affect it’.
Professor Kirkwood added: ‘Ageing results from a gradual, lifelong accumulation of subtle damage in the cells and tissues of the body over time, regulated by genetic factors – chiefly those associated with maintenance and repair, such as DNA repair and antioxidant defences.
‘However, the process appears to be susceptible to a wide range of non-genetic factors, particularly nutrition and lifestyle, and these in turn may be affected by socioeconomic status. We need to understand more about the implications of these biological factors to enable us to explore new opportunities to ensure that people reach old age in good health so they can enjoy a meaningful quality of life’, said Professor Kirkwood.
The 85+ study has been developed and tested during a one-year pilot study on a sample of 116 individuals
Dr Collerton, estimates that about 1,200 people in the Newcastle area will turn 85 this year. All of them will be invited to take part in the study by team of research nurses, led by research nurse manager, Karen Barrass.
‘The advantage of conducting a study like this in the North East of England is that it has an exceptionally stable society, socially and genetically, and it also covers all socioeconomic groups’, says Dr Collerton.
‘If we can clearly identify the factors associated with the maintenance of health in 85-year-old Newcastle residents, this should help us to understand the role of those factors with the underlying processes of ageing. It is also highly likely that our findings will be mirrored in other populations, so future studies will be able to use the Newcastle 85+ study as a reference point’, she added.
The MRC Chief Executive Professor Colin Blakemore said: ‘In the UK we have an increasingly elderly population and the problems of ageing have been identified as a top priority by the Treasury as longer life expectancy brings the challenge of ill-health associated with old age.
‘As the UK’s largest public funder of medical research to benefit human health, the Medical Research Council is dedicated to supporting research that will reveal more about what influences ageing and so how we can maintain good health and well-being as the population grows older. The MRC is currently conducting a survey into public attitudes toward funding priorities in ageing research. The output of this consultation will guide our proposals for spending on ageing research in the next Government spending review’, he added.
1921 Factfile
People who turn 85 this year were born in 1921, when Britain was still reeling from the aftermath of the First World War, and the ‘Roaring Twenties’ were just beginning…
o King George V was on the throne.
o Britain had a Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George.
o Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize for Physics
o HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was born on 10 June 1921. He celebrates his 85th birthday next week.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is funded by the UK tax-payer. It distributes funding for medical research aimed at improving human health. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and academia. The MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK.
USEFUL WEB PAGES:
Institute for Ageing and Health: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/iah/
Medical Research Council: http://www.mrc.ac.uk
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