Ahead of the Curve - Spring 2004

Healthy Aging...

Back in 1980 The New England Journal of Medicine published a revolutionary article by Dr. James Fries—Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Fries proposed that lifestyle factors have a major impact on long-term health. He also suggested research should learn the impact of lifestyle factors on health and aging.

Subsequent letters to the editor challenged his ideas, even suggesting that if his goals were achievable; keeping the elderly alive longer would only increase utilization of medical services and escalate the overall costs of health care.

Fast forward eighteen years. Dr. Fries and his colleagues published follow-up research, titled “Aging, Health Risks, and Cumulative Disability.” This study focused on smoking cessation, control of body mass index, and regular activity patterns in midlife. It clearly demonstrated that individuals who maintained healthy lifestyles had significantly less disability in later adulthood. As Dr. Fries put it, “Not only do persons with better health habits survive longer, but in such persons, disability is postponed and compressed into fewer years at the end of life.” In short, Dr. Fries and his colleagues have demonstrated that healthy living not only decreases the progressive disability associated with aging, but also decreases associated health costs.

J.F. Fries: Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity. N Engl J Med 1980;303:130-135.

A.J. Vita, R.B. Terry, H.B. Hubert, J.F. Fries: Aging, health risks, and cumulative disability. N Engl J Med 1998;338(15):1035-1041.

E.W. Campion: Aging better. N Engl J Med 1998;338(15):1035-1041

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