Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Aging Disease Not Limited To Elderly Population

The incidence and risk of disease and disability increases with age, but they do not have to be an inevitable end to an otherwise productive life. While some ailments are more common for people as they grow old, they may be considered an aging disease, such as Alzheimer’s Disease or those suffering arthritis and depression.

Individual ailments may be responsible for many problems in an elderly population, they are not necessarily limited to the elderly, rather they have a higher impact on the person’s quality of life as they age. They may be considered an aging disease due to the tolls they can place on elderly folks that may not be as damaging to a younger person. There are more ailments considered as aging disease than there are as young diseases, mostly because of the treatment methods used on the young may not be appropriate for the elderly.

With many diseases there appears to be no established relationship with aging before the onset of the illness, although as many elderly suffer weakened immune systems it is believed that possibly the illness fought by younger people are attracted to the weaker of the elderly. Although not everyone who grows old contracts a so-called aging disease, and there are some who are considerably younger who prove susceptible.

Agreement Lacking On Disease That Causes Aging

While Werner Syndrome has been referred to as the aging disease, there is much dispute about a single illness that can cause a person to age any faster than others. There is evidence that suggests this syndrome, caused by genetic problems, may be precipitated by other illness that could have affected the gene.

Other researchers contend it is a single illness and the cause of people reach puberty and then rapidly going through middle age and by the time they their 40’s or 50’s may seem in many aspects to be much older. They can suffer other ailments considered aging disease throughout their body, but their mind remains on the aging track. The fact that sufferers maintain their mental faculties has them convinced that the disease in not responsible for all of the rapid aging.

The argument persists that the syndrome may spark the onset of many different ailments making it appear to be an aging disease in and of itself, when in reality it begins other degenerations to begin and to run their course faster. Few people who contract the syndrome live beyond their mid-50’s.