Second Opinion: Let’s see the richness of ageing, not the clichés

When the Spanish conquistadors first encountered platinum in the Americas they were at a loss what to make of it and ended up throwing it away. A contemporary parallel is the failure to recognise the treasure of our increased longevity, all too often reduced to a miserable and one-dimensional lens of decline and burden. Seeing beyond the clichés to the richness is a central, if subtle and counter-cultural, element of gerontology.

It was therefore encouraging that the largest scientific meeting on ageing in Europe this decade took as its theme "Unlocking the Demographic Dividend". Effectively hosted by the Irish Gerontological Society in Dublin in April, some 1,300 researchers from various disciplines presented new research and engaged in lively debate through keynote lectures, symposiums, free presentations and poster sessions.

The tone was set by an excellent speech by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. With a humorous allusion to his impending 64th birthday, not only did he point to the gains in the increased longevity of ourselves and our families, but also to the cultural and social gains.

Of particular interest was his awareness of the economic possibilities inherent in population ageing. This has fascinated me for years, culminating in a 2010 paper, Saibhreas na hAoise, drawing attention to ageing as a promising focus for our economic development.

Given the increase in gerontology expertise in Ireland, we have a unique opportunity to become the first country in the world to energise its industrial and social frameworks by embracing population ageing as a positive phenomenon, with enormous potential to harness the energy of older Irish people, to create new products and markets relating to ageing, and to provide positive leadership in an ageing world.

Negative aspects

While the rest of the world focuses on the negative aspects of ageing, Ireland could steal a march by embracing the positivities and opportunities of maturing societies; according to the EU, the senior citizens market will grow by 81 per cent from 2005 to 2030 while the 18-59-year-old market will increase by only 7 per cent.

It is not just a question of realising markets for age-attuned goods, but acknowledging that older people are an intrinsic part of the project, whether as older workers, through intergenerational support and social participation, and the combination of wisdom and innovation that can characterise later life.

Significant opportunities exist for a wide range of innovative and useful products.

The existing focus on the pharmaceutical and mechanical device industry is, in many cases, directed towards older people: for example, artificial hips (more than 50 per cent of those in use worldwide are made in Ireland), medications, lens implants and implantable defibrillators are all devices used predominantly by older people but undoubtedly could be better shaped by corporate gerontology.

Research and development

However, the real magic of the demographic dividend is the development of age-friendly research and development strategies in industries not traditionally associated with older people. An example is the agriculture and food sector, a key sector of our economy.

The rise of nutriceuticals and prepared food has been an important growth area. An evolving focus in public health is healthy eating: with a more informed public, this allows for the development of premium products that enhance personal and public health while developing the economy. Ireland already has a positive experience with fortified and enriched milk targeted against one of the most troubling and common diseases of later life, osteoporosis.

A part of the success of this product is to profile it as an intergenerational product, emphasising that osteoporosis starts in earlier adult life, and profiling a positive and empowering message about health: good gerontological thinking. Our challenge is to extend this to the wider food and agricultural sector, in conjunction with Bord Bia and the IDA.

The key to unlocking the richness of ageing lies not only in vision but also in information. A strong educational thrust is needed at individual, corporate and societal levels to catalyse social, industrial and economic renewal through the better understanding of the often counter-intuitive body of knowledge by more than 50 years of the gerontological sciences.

While this can be supported by the strong initiatives in gerontology research and education in many of our universities, the industrial sector needs to exchange “bar-stool gerontology”, focusing largely on decline, for a new corporate gerontology based on science, research and training.

Prof Desmond O’Neill is a consultant physician in geriatric and stroke medicine and professor of medical gerontology at Tallaght hospital and Trinity Centre for Health Sciences. Twitter: @Age_Matters