WHO working definition of vitality capacity for healthy longevity monitoring

Affiliations

¹ Gerontology Department and Frailty in Ageing Research Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Geriatrics, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: ivan.bautmans@vub.be.
² Gerontology Department and Frailty in Ageing Research Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
³ Ageing and Health Unit, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Human Movement Sciences, @AgeAmsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Medicine and Aged Care, @AgeMelbourne, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University of Singapore, Singapore; National University Health System, Singapore.
⁵ Centre of Excellence on Population Ageing Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany.
⁷ Social Science Research Institute and Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁸ Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Faculty of Sciences, Department of Exercise Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁹ Demographic Change and Healthy Aging Unit, Social Determinants of Health, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Epidemiology, Monitoring, and Evaluation Units, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.

PMID: 36356628
PMCID: PMC9640935
DOI: 10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00200-8

Review

WHO working definition of vitality capacity for healthy longevity monitoring

Ivan Bautmans et al. Lancet Healthy Longev. 2022 Nov.

. 2022 Nov;3(11):e789-e796.

doi: 10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00200-8.

Affiliations

¹ Gerontology Department and Frailty in Ageing Research Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Geriatrics, Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: ivan.bautmans@vub.be.
² Gerontology Department and Frailty in Ageing Research Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
³ Ageing and Health Unit, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Human Movement Sciences, @AgeAmsterdam, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Medicine and Aged Care, @AgeMelbourne, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University of Singapore, Singapore; National University Health System, Singapore.
⁵ Centre of Excellence on Population Ageing Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Institute for Biomedicine of Aging, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany.
⁷ Social Science Research Institute and Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
⁸ Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Faculty of Sciences, Department of Exercise Sciences, Université du Québec à Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁹ Demographic Change and Healthy Aging Unit, Social Determinants of Health, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁰ Epidemiology, Monitoring, and Evaluation Units, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland.

PMID: 36356628
PMCID: PMC9640935
DOI: 10.1016/S2666-7568(22)00200-8

Abstract

Intrinsic capacity, a crucial concept in healthy ageing, is defined by WHO as "the composite of all the physical and mental capacities that an individual can draw on at any point in time". Vitality capacity is considered the underlying physiological determinant of intrinsic capacity. To advance the measurement and monitoring of vitality capacity, a working group of WHO staff members and twenty experts representing six WHO regions was convened to discuss and clarify the attributes of vitality capacity and to develop a clear working definition of the concept. Potential biomarkers to measure vitality capacity were identified, and the following consensual working definition was developed: vitality capacity is a physiological state (due to normal or accelerated biological ageing processes) resulting from the interaction between multiple physiological systems, reflected in (the level of) energy and metabolism, neuromuscular function, and immune and stress response functions of the body.

Copyright © 2022 World Health Organization; licensee Elsevier. This is an Open Access article published under the CC BY 3.0 IGO license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any use of this article, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organisation, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests DB reports grants or contracts from the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging (R21AG054846, R01AG066887, R01AG061378, U01CA164920, R01AG058683, R01AG032282, R01AG057800), the Russel Sage Foundation (BioSS Grant 1810-08987), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CF-0249–CP22-034), Columbia University (Calderone Health Equity Award, Pilot Grant), and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (Pilot Grant); licences from DunedinPACE–TruDiagnostic (no royalties have been received); consulting fees from University of Oslo PROMENTA Center (centre faculty); support for attending meetings or travel from the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging, Telomere Research Network, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, University of Oslo PROMENTA Center, and CALERIE Biorepository; participation on a data safety monitoring board or advisory board for Broad River Asset Management; and is a Scientific Advisory Board member at Broad River Asset Management. All other authors declare no competing interests. The authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this Personal View and does not necessarily represent the views, decisions, or policies of the institutions with which they are affiliated.

Figures

**Figure**
Framework of intrinsic capacity discussed during the expert meeting SASP=senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Reproduced from Beard et al, by permission of Oxford University Press.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. WHO . World Health Organization; Geneva: 2015. World report on ageing and health 2015.
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WHO working definition of vitality capacity for healthy longevity monitoring

Affiliations

WHO working definition of vitality capacity for healthy longevity monitoring

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical