Worldwide respiratory issue
New international findings show that people aged 85 years and over have the highest burden of respiratory disease, worldwide.
People aged 85 years and over have one of the highest burdens of respiratory disease among all other age groups, according to new international findings about the health of the ageing population, worldwide.
The research, presented at the European Respiratory Society’s annual Congress in Vienna earlier this week, found that older people aged 85 years and over are the fastest growing demographic in the world. And, as many chronic diseases are more common in older people, the net result is that the over-85 demographic experiences the highest number of people living with chronic conditions.
The UK-based research also showed that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the major illnesses affecting the elderly. As more people are living longer, it is likely that the number of cases of COPD will rise in the coming years.
“Over the next few years, it will be crucial for healthcare professionals to understand the problems the ageing population will face,” said the study’s lead author, Therese Small from the Freeman Hospital and Newcastle University in the UK.
“The results provide a novel insight into the future healthcare needs of this rapidly growing population.
“Our results confirm a significant prevalence of obstructive spirometry in the 85+ population, further evaluation of this unique dataset will allow us to examine how much of this is attributable to healthy ageing of the lungs and how much to the airways disease in this population of very old people.”
The study was conducted as part of the Newcastle 85+ study, a five-year longitudinal study assessing and following the health and vitality of members of the general population from the year they reach 85 years of age.
It included comprehensive demographic, physiological, clinical and biological assessments of health and vitality. For this paper, the research team worked with 845 people aged 85years and over from the UK.
The analysis revealed that overall, 20 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women had either asthma or COPD. Almost 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women showed airflow obstruction when they undertook a spirometry test to measure lung function.
The initial results of the study suggest a significant burden of respiratory problems in a very elderly population.
The research was funded by the UK Medical Research Council and the Dunhill Medical Trust.