Longevity medicine : is this the future of healthcare?

Abstract

Since 1900 the global average life expectancy has more than doubled, and is now above 70 years, due to major advances in healthcare such as antibiotics and vaccines as well as improvements in housing and education. Although lifespan has increased by 30 years since the 1950s, healthspan (number of years lived in good health or free of disease) has not increased at the same rate. In fact, in 2020, the gap between lifespan and healthspan in Europe and the UK was 15 years for males and 19 years for females. This means that the average person people is living one-fifth of their life with a chronic health condition. The increase in lifespan because of modern medicine is mostly due to reduction in deaths from infection through the development of antibiotics, and reduction in deaths from trauma through better access to emergency medicine. Global mortality rates due to causes other than contagious diseases have not changed much since 1900. [excerpt]