Franco Oscar H, Karnik Kavita, Osborne Gabrielle, Ordovas Jose M, Catt Michael, van der Ouderaa Frans
Unilever Corporate Research, Colworth Park, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, UK.
Maturitas. 2009 May 20;63(1):13-9. doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2009.02.006. Epub 2009 Mar 17.
Ageing is often associated with the aged and the diseased, nevertheless ageing is a process that starts in-uterus and is characterised by a progressive functional loss but not necessarily by the presence of disease and poor quality of life. How to meander through life without crossing the confines of major chronic disease and cognitive and physical impairment remains one of the most relevant challenges for science and humankind. Delimiting that 'immaculate' trajectory - that we dub as the 'Healthy Ageing Phenotype' - and exploring solutions to help the population to stay or return to this trajectory should constitute the core focus of scientific research. Nevertheless, current efforts on ageing research are mainly focused on developing animal models to disentangle the human ageing process, and on age-related disorders often providing merely palliative solutions. Therefore, to identify alternative perspectives in ageing research, Unilever and the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK convened a Spark workshop entitled 'The Healthy Ageing Phenotype'. In this meeting, international specialists from complementary areas related to ageing research, gathered to find clear attributes and definitions of the 'Healthy Ageing Phenotype', to identify potential mechanisms and interventions to improve healthy life expectancy of the population; and to highlight areas within ageing research that should be prioritised in the future. General agreement was reached in recognising ageing research as a disaggregated field with little communication between basic, epidemiological and clinical areas of research and limited translation to society. A more holistic, multi-disciplinary approach emanating from a better understanding of healthy ageing trajectories and centred along human biological resilience, its maintenance and the reversibility from early deviations into pathological trajectories, is urgently required. Future research should concentrate on understanding the mechanisms that permit individuals to maintain optimal health when facing pathological hazards and on developing and assessing potential interventions that could aid to re-establish resilience when lost or guarantee its integrity if present. Furthermore it is fundamental that scientific findings are translated incessantly into clear messages delivered to governmental institutions, the industry and society in general.
衰老通常与老年人和患病者联系在一起，然而衰老是一个始于子宫内的过程，其特征是功能逐渐丧失，但不一定伴随着疾病和生活质量差。如何在不跨越重大慢性疾病以及认知和身体损伤界限的情况下度过一生，仍然是科学和人类面临的最相关挑战之一。界定那条“完美”轨迹——我们称之为“健康衰老表型”——并探索帮助人们保持或回归该轨迹的解决方案，应该成为科学研究的核心重点。然而，目前关于衰老研究的努力主要集中在开发动物模型以解开人类衰老过程，以及针对与年龄相关的疾病，往往只提供缓解性解决方案。因此，为了在衰老研究中找到其他视角，联合利华和英国医学研究理事会（MRC）召开了一次名为“健康衰老表型”的火花研讨会。在这次会议上，来自与衰老研究相关的互补领域的国际专家齐聚一堂，以找出“健康衰老表型”的明确特征和定义，确定改善人群健康预期寿命的潜在机制和干预措施；并突出衰老研究中未来应优先考虑的领域。大家普遍达成共识，认为衰老研究是一个分散的领域，基础研究、流行病学研究和临床研究领域之间几乎没有交流，且对社会的转化有限。迫切需要一种更全面、多学科的方法，这种方法源于对健康衰老轨迹的更好理解，并以人类生物复原力、其维持以及从早期偏离到病理轨迹的可逆性为中心。未来的研究应集中在理解使个体在面对病理危害时保持最佳健康的机制，以及开发和评估可能有助于在复原力丧失时重新建立或在存在时保证其完整性的潜在干预措施。此外，将科学发现不断转化为传达给政府机构、行业和整个社会的清晰信息至关重要。
