The study
Using Global Burden of Disease data, the authors sort every disease into four life-stage clusters: infant, early adult, later adult, and ageing-related. Ageing-related disease is already the largest burden worldwide and the largest expected lifetime burden for a newborn in every income group. It is also the only cluster with increasing returns: each gain in mortality makes the next gain in morbidity worth more, and the reverse.
What it means for practice
this is the answer to why longevity medicine is needed. The paper is the evidence that aging-related disease is the largest burden for individuals, nations, health systems, payers, and employers.
Source: Ashwin, Bloom, Scott et al. · Nature Aging · September 2, 2026
Originally published in The Longevity Medicine Intelligence newsletter (#105).
