New multidisciplinary publication presents current findings on healthy aging

The way people age is determined by many factors including lifestyle, health conditions, genetics but also socioeconomic position, social cohesion and even the current national economic situation. These factors hence do not only influence present life, but also have long-term consequences for mental and physical health in old age. Those implications are now presented in a new multidisciplinary publication on aging, co-edited by researchers from the University of Luxembourg.

The volume "Health and Cognition in Old Age. From Biomedical and Life Course Factors to Policy and Practice" published at Springer and co-edited by Anja K. Leist, research associate at the PEARL Institute for Research on Socio-Economic Inequality at the University of Luxembourg, presents current findings regarding healthy aging, especially the maintenance of cognitive and physical abilities and well-being. The 19 contributing authors are all participants in the FLARE programme (Future Leaders of Aging Research in Europe), an international programme for young postdoc researchers in different fields of gerontology supported by the European Union and led by Prof Alan Walker at the University of Sheffield, UK.  

„In order to understand the complexity of the aging process and to ensure not only longer, but also healthier lives, we need to integrate and understand different perspectives of aging, which is why interdisciplinary and international cooperation are of vital importance", says Dr Anja Leist who edited the volume together with Dr Jenni Kulmala from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and Dr Fredrica Nyqvist from the Finnish National Institute of Health and Welfare in Vaasa.