Despite stigmas, “old age is lived independently”

Carolina Gomez Mena

La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 23, 2024, p. 8

Despite the stigmas and stereotypes that prevail regarding the population aged 65 and over, the majority are people who live autonomously and independently and fulfill a social role, said Alberto Ávila Funes, researcher at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán.

The geriatrician specified The Day that more than 80 percent are autonomous people and explained that, although genetics sets the tone, changing habits represents more than half of the incidence that helps prolong life.

Modify that aspect can make a 10 year difference in life expectancyexplained the Director of Education of said institute, during the Healthy Aging presentation, held in the context of the 500 years of the Hospital de Jesús. There he indicated that the greatest fear that people who live beyond six decades have is precisely losing their physical and mental autonomy.

He stressed that on a global and national scale the population of older adults is increasing. In the case of Mexico, it is expected that by 2050, up to a fifth of the inhabitants will be 65 years old or older. Currently there are almost 14 million people.

Worldwide, while in 2004 there were 461 million (8.5 percent of the population) people over 65 years of age, it is expected that by 2050 there will be 2 billion (16.7 percent of the total). In the case of much of Europe, 28 percent or more inhabitants will be over 65 years old, and in Canada and the United States it will range between 21 and 27.9 percent; while in Mexico it will be between 14 and 20.9 percent.

He noted that although events such as the covid-19 pandemic and the associated problems, in addition to the existing violence in the country, stagnated life expectancy; foresees that this has a rebound, perhaps between now and then we will reach what is happening in countries like Japan or the Scandinavian countries, whose population aspires to live an average of 83 years.

However, he warned that We have very similar disease patterns to developed nations, particularly due to the presence of chronic non-communicable diseases.. Furthermore, the aging process in our societies it has been much faster, we have had less time to gather resources.

In our countries, unfortunately, the majority age in poverty, illiteracy, with a poor social network and a poor culture of self-care.