加强老年流行病研究 科学指导老年健康防控

我国目前面临着严峻的人口老龄化和高龄化形势,老年人特别是高龄老人作为我国人口中寿命最长和最脆弱的特殊群体,亟需针对此人群开展深入的科学研究。老年流行病学是研究流行病学理论与方法在老年人研究中的应用科学,整合多种方法开展老年人特殊健康特征分析,获取老年人健康流行病学规律。本期“老年流行病学”重点号文章围绕老年人群慢性病、心理健康、认知功能和死亡等识别出一系列健康长寿的生活方式、生物标志物和环境内暴露指标等可修饰性危险因素,以期为科学指导老年健康防控提供循证医学证据。未来研究不仅需要持续关注慢性病、失能和失智等传统老年健康问题,也要重视新冠肺炎等呼吸道传染病对老年人健康的影响。

Strengthening the researches on geriatric epidemiology to provide scientific guidance on control and prevention strategies for elderly

China is currently facing a severe situation of population aging,thus further studies on elderly health is urgently needed,especially for older adults with the most vulnerable and longest-spanned lives.Geriatric epidemiology is a science that deals with the application of epidemiological theories and methods among older adults,which requires the integration of multiple strategies to analyze the special health characteristics and to grasp the health epidemiological rules for older adults.Aiming to provide evidence-based medicine to scientifically guide the prevention and control of elderly health,this special issue on geriatric epidemiology focuses on chronic diseases,mental health,cognitive function,and mortality of older adults as well as the identification of a multitude of modifiable risk factors of healthy aging(e.g.,lifestyles,biomarkers,and internal exposures).Future researches need to continuously focus not only on traditional health disease,such as chronic diseases,disabilities and mental disorders,but also on respiratory infectious diseases,including coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).