age-associated diseases
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

An aging-associated disease (commonly termed age-related disease, ARD) is a disease that is most often seen with increasing frequency with increasing
senescence Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...
. They are essentially complications of senescence, distinguished from the
aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
process itself because all adult animals age ( with rare exceptions) but not all adult animals experience all age-associated diseases. The term does not refer to age-specific diseases, such as the
childhood diseases The term childhood disease refers to disease that is contracted or becomes symptomatic before the age of 18 or 21 years old. Many of these diseases can also be contracted by adults. Some childhood diseases include: Diseases from three years to ...
chicken pox and
measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
, only diseases of the elderly. They are also not accelerated aging diseases, all of which are genetic disorders. Examples of aging-associated diseases are atherosclerosis and
cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...
, cancer,
arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...
, cataracts,
osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...
, type 2 diabetes,
hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...
and
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
. The incidence of all of these diseases increases exponentially with age. Of the roughly 150,000 people who die each day across the globe, about two thirds—100,000 per day—die of age-related causes. In industrialized nations, the proportion is higher, reaching 90%.


Patterns of differences

By age 3, about 30% of
rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' ( pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoot ...
s have had cancer, whereas by age 85 about 30% of humans have had cancer. Humans, dogs and
rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s get Alzheimer's disease, but rodents do not. Elderly rodents typically die of cancer or
kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...
, but not of cardiovascular disease. In humans, the relative incidence of cancer increases exponentially with age for most cancers, but levels off or may even decline by age 60–75 (although colon/ rectal cancer continues to increase). People with the so-called segmental progerias are vulnerable to different sets of diseases. Those with Werner's syndrome experience osteoporosis, cataracts, and, cardiovascular disease, but not
neurodegeneration A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Such neuronal damage may ultimately involve cell death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic ...
or Alzheimer's disease; those with Down syndrome have type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, but not high
blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" r ...
, osteoporosis or cataracts. In Bloom syndrome, those affected most often die of cancer.


Research

Aging (senescence) increases vulnerability to age-associated diseases, whereas genetics determines vulnerability or resistance between species and individuals within species. Some age-related changes (like graying hair) are said to be unrelated to an increase in
mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
. But some biogerontologists believe that the same underlying changes that cause graying hair also increase mortality in other organ systems and that understanding the incidence of age-associated disease will advance knowledge of the biology of senescence just as knowledge of childhood diseases advanced knowledge of human development.
Strategies for engineered negligible senescence Strategies for engineered negligible senescence (SENS) is a range of proposed regenerative medical therapies, either planned or currently in development, for the periodic repair of all age-related damage to human tissue. These therapies have the u ...
(SENS) is an emerging research strategy that aims to repair "root causes" for age-related illness and degeneration, as well as develop medical procedures to periodically repair all such damage in the human body, thereby maintaining a youth-like state indefinitely.The SENS Platform: An Engineering Approach to Curing Aging
. Methuselah Foundation. Retrieved on June 28, 2008.
The SENS programme has identified seven types of aging-related damage, and feasible solutions have been outlined for each. Some critics argue that the SENS agenda is optimistic at best, and that the aging process is too complex and little-understood for SENS to be scientific or implementable in the foreseeable future. It has been proposed that age-related diseases are mediated by vicious cycles. On the basis of extensive research,
DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA da ...
has emerged a major culprit in cancer and numerous other diseases related to
ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...
. DNA damage can initiate the development of cancer or other aging related diseases depending on several factors. These include the type, amount, and location of the DNA damage in the body, the type of cell experiencing the damage and its stage in the cell cycle, and the specific DNA repair processes available to react to the damage. A paper published on 29 March 2022 by a group of scientists at
Insilico Medicine Insilico Medicine is a biotechnology company based in Pak Shek Kok, Hong Kong in Hong Kong Science Park near the Chinese University of Hong Kong and in New York, at The Cure by Deerfield. The company combines genomics, big data analysis, and dee ...
, University of Chicago,
George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...
, and University of Liverpool demonstrated that there might be several alternative senolytic targets and pathways that can be targeted with small molecules drugs. They use artificial intelligence models to yield a list of dual-purpose targets implicated in aging and age-associated diseases. It may impact multiple age-associated diseases and retard aging for extending healthspan.


Types


Macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease that affects the eyes and can lead to vision loss through break down of the central part of the retina called the macula. Degeneration can occur in one eye or both and can be classified as either wet (neovascular) or dry (atrophic). Wet AMD commonly is caused by blood vessels near the retina that lead to swelling of the macula. The cause of dry AMD is less clear, but it is thought to be partly caused by breakdown of light-sensitive cells and tissue surrounding the macula. A major risk factor for AMD is age over the age of 60.


Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
is classified as a "protein misfolding" disease. Aging causes mutations in protein folding, and as a result causes deposits of abnormal modified proteins accumulate in specific areas of the brain. In Alzheimer's,deposits of Beta-amyloid and hyperphosphorylated tau protein form extracellular plaques and extracellular tangles. These deposits are shown to be neurotoxic and cause cognitive impairment due to their initiation of destructive biochemical pathways.


Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is categorized as an aging disease and is brought about by vascular remodeling, the accumulation of plaque, and the loss of arterial elasticity. Over time, these processes can stiffen the vasculature. For these reasons, older age is listed as a major risk factor for atherosclerosis. Specifically, the risk of atherosclerosis increases for men above 45 years of age and women above 55 years of age.


Benign prostatic hyperplasia

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate gland due to increased growth. An enlarged prostate can result in incomplete or complete blockage of the bladder and interferes with a man's ability to urinate properly. Symptoms include
overactive bladder Overactive bladder (OAB) is a condition where there is a frequent feeling of needing to urinate to a degree that it negatively affects a person's life. The frequent need to urinate may occur during the day, at night, or both. If there is loss ...
, decreased stream of urine, hesitancy urinating, and incomplete emptying of the bladder. By age 40, 10% of men will have signs of BPH and by age 60, this percentage increases by 5 fold. Men over the age of 80 have over a 90% chance of developing BPH and almost 80% of men will develop BPH in their lifetime.


Cancer

Although it is possible for cancer to strike at any age, most patients with invasive cancer are over 65, and the most significant risk factor for developing cancer is age. According to cancer researcher
Robert A. Weinberg Robert Allan Weinberg (born November 11, 1942) is a biologist, Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), director of the Ludwig Center of the MIT, and American Cancer Society Research Profes ...
, "If we lived long enough, sooner or later we all would get cancer." Some of the association between aging and cancer is attributed to
immunosenescence Immunosenescence is the gradual deterioration of the immune system, brought on by natural age advancement. A 2020 review concluded that the adaptive immune system is affected more than the innate immune system. Immunosenescence involves both the h ...
, errors accumulated in DNA over a lifetime and age-related changes in the endocrine system. Aging's effect on cancer is complicated by factors such as DNA damage and inflammation promoting it and factors such as vascular aging and endocrine changes inhibiting it.


Parkinson's

Parkinson's disease, or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term
degenerative disorder Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting tissues or organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time. In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of the central nervous system stop wor ...
of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The disease has many complications, including Dementia, depression, anxiety. Parkinson's disease typically occurs in people over the age of 60, of whom about one percent are affected. The prevalence of
Parkinson's disease dementia Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) is dementia that is associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). Together with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), it is one of the Lewy body dementias characterized by abnormal deposits of Lewy bodies in the brain. ...
also increases with age, and to a lesser degree, duration of the disease. Exercise in middle age may reduce the risk of PD later in life.


Stroke

Stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
was the second most frequent cause of death worldwide in 2011, accounting for 6.2 million deaths (~11% of the total). Stroke could occur at any age, including in childhood, the risk of stroke increases exponentially from 30 years of age, and the cause varies by age. Advanced age is one of the most significant stroke risk factors. 95% of strokes occur in people age 45 and older, and two-thirds of strokes occur in those over the age of 65. A person's risk of dying if he or she does have a stroke also increases with age.


See also

* Accelerated aging disease *
Alliance for Aging Research The Alliance for Aging Research is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes medical research to improve the human experience of aging. Founded in 1986 by Daniel Perry, the Alliance also advocates and implements health edu ...
*
Gerontology Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek , ''geron'', "old man" and , ''-logia'', "study of". The fie ...
*
Senescence Senescence () or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word ''senescence'' can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Organismal senescence inv ...


References


External links


Segmental Progeria
{{Longevity Geriatrics Senescence