ArticleNature aging2021
The economic value of targeting aging.
Article in Nature aging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
118 citing papers in PubMed.
- Study protocol for FAXAge: a randomized, controlled clinical trial of fasting and exercise to slow aging in humans.GeroScience · 2026Trial
- Effects of daily multivitamin-multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Individual and additive effects of vitamin D, omega-3 and exercise on DNA methylation clocks of biological aging in older adults from the DO-HEALTH trial.Nature aging · 2025Trial
- Exergames for falls prevention in sheltered homes: a feasibility study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Repurposing Metformin for periodontal disease management as a form of oral-systemic preventive medicine.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Trial
- Enhancing cognitive control in amnestic mild cognitive impairment via at-home non-invasive neuromodulation in a randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Effect of long-term caloric restriction on DNA methylation measures of biological aging in healthy adults from the CALERIE trial.Nature aging · 2023Trial
- Inter-individual differences in baseline dynamic functional connectivity are linked to cognitive aftereffects of tDCS.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- The longevity dividend: Why governments and markets must catch up.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- How human and animal frailty index studies can inform each other: a brief narrative review.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Review
- Reframing the epidemiological transition as increasing returns to tackling aging-related diseases.Nature aging · 2026Article
- Positioning TERT at the apex of aging.Nature aging · 2026Review
- Activating the vagus nerve-adrenal anti-inflammatory axis to delay aging: A randomized controlled trial protocol.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2026Article
- Chlorophyll Supplementation Delays Aging inNutrients · 2026Article
- Mitigating the Hawthorne effect in aging research.Nature aging · 2026Article
- From whole-body to organ-specific biological age clocks.Nature aging · 2026Review
- Exploring the roles of Polygonati Rhizoma in delaying skin aging using network pharmacology and molecular docking.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Building and Validating an Explainable Machine Learning Model for Predicting Health-Promoting Behaviors in Older Adults: A Multicenter Study.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026Article
- The geroscience hypothesis: Economic paradigms and pharmacological strategies for healthspan extension.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2026Article
58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Developments in life expectancy and the growing emphasis on biological and 'healthy' aging raise a number of important questions for health scientists and economists alike. Is it preferable to make lives healthier by compressing morbidity, or longer by extending life? What are the gains from targeting aging itself compared to efforts to eradicate specific diseases? Here we analyze existing data to evaluate the economic value of increases in life expectancy, improvements in health and treatments that target aging. We show that a compression of morbidity that improves health is more valuable than further increases in life expectancy, and that targeting aging offers potentially larger economic gains than eradicating individual diseases. We show that a slowdown in aging that increases life expectancy by 1 year is worth US$38 trillion, and by 10 years, US$367 trillion. Ultimately, the more progress that is made in improving how we age, the greater the value of further improvements.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.