Active ageing: Italy second in Europe for longevity but sixth for 'healthy living

"Italy is one of the longest-living countries in the world, in Europe second only to Spain, we live very long: 83.8 years as life expectancy. But if we look at 'life in health' we are sixth, seventh in Europe, with big differences between the northern and southern Italian regions: our last years have been lived in poor health, so we need to improve this gap, activating active ageing, made up of participation, safety, mental health, social health, physical health through prevention, chronic disease management and the promotion of healthy lifestyles'.

These are the words of Michele Conversano, president of Happy Ageing, on the strategies to tackle healthy ageing of the population that were the focus of 'Investing for Healthy Ageing', an event promoted by MSD, which took place in Rome at Associazione Civita involving institutions, scientific societies, clinicians, economists and patient and civil society associations.

The discussion focused on the frailty of the elderly, the prevention of preventable diseases through immunisation strategies and the sustainability of the National Health System.

'The fragility of the elderly,' adds Conversano, 'should be considered not only as the presence of multiple chronic diseases (such as diabetes, heart disease): Covid has taught us that there is also functional, physical, motor, mental, cognitive, psycho-emotional and biological fragility. We have malnutrition, loneliness, lack of rights and solidarity, and economic fragility. We must learn that we have to take care of all these things in order to have active ageing'.

Secondo Conversano “il fenomeno dell’immunosenescenza, e delle malattie infettive respiratorie, può essere prevenuto con i vaccini: abbiamo un calendario vaccinale molto ben organizzato che prevede la prevenzione delle infezioni attraverso le vaccinazioni, ma abbiamo ancora percentuali di copertura troppo basse, per l’influenza non superiamo il 50-52%. Solo nel 2023 abbiamo avuto oltre 200 decessi per malattie invasive da pneumococco, una letalità del 20%. Quindi, su più di mille persone che sono state ricoverate in ospedale, 212 sono decedute. Si tratta di una questione che può essere prevenuta con vaccini ormai anche costruiti su misura dell’anziano. Inoltre, è importante la prevenzione di tutte le malattie infettive: la SIGG Società Italiana di Geriatria e Gerontologia spiega che allettare un anziano per tre giorni produce una perdita di massa muscolare di un chilo. Si tratta del fenomeno della sarcopenia che può trasformare un anziano, tenuto a letto anche da una malattia banale per una set