Biomedical Research Involving Older Human Subjects

Abstract

The increasing life expectancy and increasing proportion of the population over the age of 65 in most developing countries are both unprecedented demographic phenomena. In the United States, life expectancy has increased more in the last century than in all previous recorded history. Even in the last 20 years, there have continued to he unexpected and largely unexplainable declines in mortality rates leading to increasing numbers of people living beyond even the ages of 85, 90 or 100. It is not surprising, then, that there is a great interest in studies of aging among researchers in social science and policy studies. Further, since aging is generally associated with an increased risk of medical illness and declining function, research has been stimulated in many different health-related areas, such as clinical disease, basic molecular causes of aging, and health services research.