MILAN (ITALPRESS) – Average life expectancy in the 27 countries of the European Union is estimated at 81.5 years in 2023. This is according to preliminary data published by Eurostat, according to which European citizens have gained almost a year of life compared to 2022 and 0.2 years compared to the pre-Covid-19 period. In Italy, as in fourteen other countries on the old continent, life expectancy is higher than the EU average, standing at 83.8 years, a value exceeded only by Spain. In all European countries, women live longer than men, a gap that tends to narrow, however, due to the gradual transformation of lifestyles. Among the characteristics of our country is that of having the oldest population in Europe; in Italy the average is 48.4 years, compared with 44.5 years in the EU. These are some of the issues discussed by Tiziano Lucchi, director of geriatrics at IRCCS Policlinico di Milano, as well as head of a team that is also dedicated to the study, diagnosis and treatment of patients – elderly and not – suffering from metabolic diseases, interviewed by Marco Klinger, for Medicina Top, a TV format of the Italpress news agency. “The latest Istat data show us that in Italy births are decreasing, but life expectancy at birth is increasing, a little over 81 years for men and almost 85 for women,” he began. “The aging index, that is, the ratio of those over 65 to the general population, is 24 percent in Italy, in addition, the number of the elderly is increasing and there are more than 22,000 centenarians,” Lucchi pointed out. “Censis tells us that in 2040 the percentage of the elderly will rise to 30 percent, one in three Italians will be over 65. In large Italian cities, it is Milan that has the highest percentage of elderly people compared to the general population, and it is in the Lombard capital, certainly not among the so-called blue zones, that the oldest person in Italy, a 115-year-old man, also lives. “There is a biological rejuvenation of the population, the elderly is normally classified from the age of 65, but by now this is improper and anachronistic,” he explained, “It is a definition that dates back to the Prussian Empire and was the threshold in which the retirement age was set, few got there and the state gained,” the professor recounted, “The elderly person at present is anyone who is ten years younger than life expectancy, in Italy the limit has now therefore moved up to over 70 years.And on the importance of physical activity: “Exercise is essential to maintain a functional body, a recent study took into consideration not so much sports physical activity, because all in all, even 4,000 steps a day are sufficient, that’s 2 and a half kilometers a day. In this way, it already begins to decrease the risk of mortality,” he reiterated, “Our physique has a maximum functional performance around the age of 30, and then begins a decay that can occur through different trajectories, aging is very diverse among different individuals. The activity that is good for you is physical and aerobic, the intense activity exposes you to risks,” he cautioned, “There are stereotypes unfortunately, active aging should be understood as the freedom of the elderly to be themselves. It has less weight on aging, contrary to what many think, the genetic aspect: “My teacher, Professor Vergani, used to say ‘Wrong old people become so when they are young.’ ‘ He implied that correct lifestyles the sooner you put them in place the better,” he recalled. “On the other hand, it has to be said that it was once thought that genetics mattered so much, instead studies on homozygotic twins have shown us an important difference based on lifestyle. The gene only matters up to about 25 percent.” “Einstein said that man is old when regrets take the place of dreams. I have had the pleasure of treating several centenarians,” Lucchi concluded, “What characterized these people was that they maintained future goals.
– photo taken from Top Medicine video -(ITALPRESS).
