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Highlights
• The WHO developed a definition of disease for the purposes of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases, which includes symptomatology, aetiology, course and outcome, treatment response, linkage to genetic and environmental factors.
• There are a number of diagnostic tools which can be used to assess the rate of biological aging, to develop new medicines and to monitor effectiveness of interventions.
• The key pathological processes of aging include low-grade systemic inflammation, replicative cellular senescence, proteostasis failures, immune senescence, mitochondrial dysfunctions, increased fibrotic propensity, insulin resistance, body composition changes and hormonal changes in aging.
• We identified a number of interventions, including lifestyle changes, approved drugs and supplements, which proved effective for the prevention of more than one aging-related pathological process.
• A proposal based on these findings was submitted to the ICD-11 Joint Task Force, which led to the inclusion of the extension code for “Ageing-related” (XT9T) into the “Causality” section of the ICD-11.
• Genetic and environmental factors of aging are reviewed.
• Therefore, we conclude that biological aging fits the disease criteria of the International Classification of Diseases-11 and can be legitimately considered a disease.
Abstract
The disease criteria used by the World Health Organization (WHO) were applied to human biological aging in order to assess whether aging can be classified as a disease. These criteria were developed for the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and included disease diagnostics, mechanisms, course and outcomes, known interventions, and linkage to genetic and environmental factors.
Results
Biological aging can be diagnosed with frailty indices, functional, blood-based biomarkers. A number of major causal mechanisms of human aging involved in various organs have been described, such as inflammation, replicative cellular senescence, immune senescence, proteostasis failures, mitochondrial dysfunctions, fibrotic propensity, hormonal aging, body composition changes, etc. We identified a number of clinically proven interventions, as well as genetic and environmental factors of aging. Therefore, aging fits the ICD-11 criteria and can be considered a disease. This proposal was submitted to the ICD-11 Joint Task force, and this led to the inclusion of the extension code for “Ageing-related” (XT9T) into the “Causality” section of the ICD-11. These findings might lead to greater focus on biological aging in global health policy and might provide for more opportunities for the new therapy developers.
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Edited by Engadin, 04 April 2020 - 09:08 PM.
