At least 80% responsibility for ill health in old age down to individual, says study

Individuals bear at least 80% of the responsibility for their ill health in old age, according to a report aimed at challenging the belief that physical decline is either inevitable or primarily the responsibility of the state. The report , launched at the Smart Ageing Summit in Oxford last week, argues that individuals have far greater control over their longevity than is commonly understood. The authors call on the government to take legislative action on alcohol comparable to restrictions on smoking. Living Longer, Better – the Oxford Longevity Project’s first Age-less Report – was co-authored by an interdisciplinary panel of UK-based experts in medicine, physiology, ageing and education policy. It was sponsored by Oxford Healthspan . The report’s authors, Sir Christopher Ball, Sir Muir Gray, Dr Paul Ch’en, Leslie Kenny and Prof Denis Noble, present the figure of 80% as a conservative estimate. “Some have gone higher and said it’s approaching 90%,” said Ball, a 91-year-old former Parachute regiment officer who intends to reach 100. “But I think 80% seems about fair.” The claim, however, has been described as simplistic and said to neglect wider arguments about whether people are genuinely in control of individual choices when it comes to issues including poverty, pollution and healthcare access. …