When Queen Elizabeth died last year at the age of 96, two words on her death certificate caused quite a stir among some gerontologists and ageing experts.
The certification of cause of death read simply ‘old age.’
Critics pointed out that old age is not a disease and should not be used as a cause of death. Some objected on the basis that it legitimised ageism and ignored the multiple causes of ill health in later life – and even detracted from treatment and prevention.
In the debate that followed, the use of other terms on death certificates was reported, such as “the frailty of old age,” or even a past practice of recording the death of an elderly person without an obvious medical cause as being “taken by a visitation of God.”
As many writers have commented in various adaptations over centuries, there are two things certain in life – death and taxes. That said, while we might not be able to keep the taxman at bay, advances in science and medicine are helping to push back average life expectancy and delay death.
In many ways, we have to sort out what is inevitable and what is not.
But it is not all about the numbers. Quality of life in later years is arguably just as important, although sometimes harder to measure.
In many ways, we have to sort out what is inevitable and what is not. And that’s where research and treatments in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease come into their own, because those conditions are not always a given.
This month we look at ways to keep our brains and bodies from ageing prematurely, so that any extra years of life are not just for the record books but actually worthwhile.