HEALTHY AGEING: UNA REVISIONE SISTEMATICA SULLE EVIDENZE AL SERVIZIO DELLE POLICY PER LA LONGEVITÀ.

[Autom. eng. transl.] INTRODUCTION: Increased longevity is a great goal, but it also represents a formidable public health challenge that involves not only health systems, but also operators, the elderly themselves and their families. The aim of the work is to present the most recent literature evidence on which health policy strategies should be based, such as the "European Year for Active Aging and Solidarity between Generations", in support of active aging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the period between February and August 2013, a systematic review of the literature (primary articles and reviews in English) was conducted independently of two researchers using the keywords: (healthy or active or positive or successful or productive or optimal) AND (aging or aging). In order to be included in the review, the works had to be published in peer-reviewed journals or by international agencies / companies, written in English, Italian or Spanish and cover subjects over the age of 65, No restriction by date of publication has been inserted. RESULTS: The review showed that active aging is the subject of increasing attention from the literature, with more than 50,000 publications, of which over 16,000 only in the last 5 years. Given the number of primary jobs, the revision was limited mainly to revisions (2187). 2058 reviews have been excluded through the reading of the title and abstracts. At the end of the review process, the authors selected 124 references, of which 82 were revisions, 22 primary articles, 22 documents from international agencies and 6 books. The high incidence of comorbidity in subjects with chronic-degenerative diseases places health care workers in the face of complex patients with varying degrees of functional deficit, cognitive impairment, nutritional problems and geriatric syndromes (delirium, incontinence, falls), as well as poor reporting social and financial problems. The review was structured on the following chapters: smoking, alcohol, obesity, physical activity, malnutrition and frailty, falls, dementia, vaccination, screening and policy. CONCLUSIONS: Although at the beginning of 2000 there was a tendency to consider healty aging strategies as uneconomic, today many studies show how to act on modifiable risk factors, especially those with a high impact on the quality of life (smoking, physical activity nutrition, obesity, alcohol) is cost-effective. This "epidemiological transition" requires interventions to promote healthy lifestyles, accompanied by a particular focus on social and cultural aspects, which must be started as early as possible, even if the saying "it's never too late ".