Substantial health and economic returns from delayed aging may warrant a new course for medical research, according to a study by members of the MacArthur Research Network on an Aging Society. The report states that while recent scientific advances suggest that slowing the aging process is now a realistic goal, most medical research remains focused on combating individual disease. However, research to delay aging and the infirmities of old age would have better population health and economic returns than advances in individual fatal diseases such as cancer or heart disease. With even modest gains in our scientific understanding of how to slow the aging process, an additional five percent of adults over the age of 65 would be healthy rather than disabled every year from 2030 to 2060, reveals the study.
