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. 2025 Apr;47(2):1713-1720.
doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01315-9. Epub 2024 Sep 21.

Defining an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome: International Consensus Statement

Emma Short  1   2 ; ICCARP; Stuart Calimport  3   4 , Barry Bentley  3   5   6   7   4
Collaborators, Affiliations

Defining an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome: International Consensus Statement

Emma Short et al. Geroscience. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Around the world, individuals are living longer, but an increased average lifespan does not always equate to an increased health span. With advancing age, the increased prevalence of ageing-related diseases can have a significant impact on health status, functional capacity and quality of life. It is therefore vital to develop comprehensive classification and staging systems for ageing-related pathologies, diseases and syndromes. This will allow societies to better identify, quantify, understand and meet the healthcare, workforce, well-being and socioeconomic needs of ageing populations, whilst supporting the development and utilisation of interventions to prevent or to slow, halt or reverse the progression of ageing-related pathologies. The foundation for developing such classification and staging systems is to define the scope of what constitutes an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome. To this end, a consensus meeting was hosted by the International Consortium to Classify Ageing-Related Pathologies (ICCARP), on February 19, 2024, in Cardiff, UK, and was attended by 150 recognised experts. Discussions and voting were centred on provisional criteria that had been distributed prior to the meeting. The participants debated and voted on these. Each criterion required a consensus agreement of ≥ 70% for approval. The accepted criteria for an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome were (1) develops and/or progresses with increasing chronological age; (2) should be associated with, or contribute to, functional decline or an increased susceptibility to functional decline and (3) evidenced by studies in humans. Criteria for an ageing-related pathology, disease or syndrome have been agreed by an international consortium of subject experts. These criteria will now be used by the ICCARP for the classification and ultimately staging of ageing-related pathologies, diseases and syndromes.

Keywords: Ageing; Ageing-related pathology; Disease; Longevity; Syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: ACM sits on the scientific advisory board of Cambridge Infection Diagnostics and has received speaking fees from Biomerieux, Fischer and Paykel, Thermo Fisher and Boston Scientific. AAST declares submission of two patent applications (PCT/EP2019/066546 and PG450503GB/YR), one of which is currently being explored with Life Molecular Imaging. AAST has an active collaboration with Unilever. AAST is a recipient of a Wellcome Trust Technology Development Award (221295/Z/20/Z) focused on understanding synaptic changes over the course of a lifespan; and a CZI grant DAF2021-225273 and grant https://doi.org/10.37921/690910twdfoo from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation (funder https://doi.org/10.13039/100014989 ). AL has received financial support from Amgen, Apellis, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eyebiotech, Outlook Therapeutics, Kriya and Roche. AN has received research grants from the BBSRC, BHF, Boots plc, SkinBioTherapeutics, Unilever, AstraZeneca and Waters, and provided consultancy for Intercos. AS receives support from multiple NIH grants (P30 AG010133, P30 AG072976, R01 AG019771, R01 AG057739, U19 AG024904, R01 LM013463, R01 AG068193, T32 AG071444, U01 AG068057, U01 AG072177 and U19 AG074879). He has also received support from Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly (in kind contribution of PET tracer precursor) and participated in Scientific Advisory Boards (Bayer Oncology, Eisai, Novo Nordisk and Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc) and an Observational Study Monitoring Board (MESA, NIH NHLBI), as well as External Advisory Committees for multiple NIA grants. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Brain Imaging and Behavior, a Springer-Nature Journal. BLB sits on the scientific advisory board of Five Alarm Bio Ltd. Cambridge, UK. EJRVB is advisory board member of DeepHealth, a member of the steering committee of an Astra Zeneca sponsored study (PINPOINT) and owner of QCTIS Ltd (a Radiology consulting company). GB is the founder, director and CEO of Function RX Ltd. GP has acted as a consultant for Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Immatics and Astellas. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of Repair Biotechnologies, Inc., ImmuneAGE Bio, Inc., MoglingBio, Inc., SENS Foundation, Alpine Institute of Zurich, XPRIZE Health span. He owns equity in ImmuneAGE Bio, Inc. HSG (Harinderjit Singh Gill) has acted as a consultant for Smith & Nephew and Invibio. JG has acted as a consultant for Unity Biotechnology, Geras Bio, Myricx Pharma and Merck KGaA. Pfizer and Unity Biotechnology have funded research in JG’s lab (unrelated to the work presented here). JG owns equity in Geras Bio. JG is a named inventor in MRC and Imperial College patents, both related to senolytic therapies. LH is the founder, director and CSO of SENISCA Ltd. PB has received research funding and/or one-off payments for advisory boards and/or speaker honoraria from: Iridex, Glaukos & BVI (EndoOptiks). PMM has received consulting/speaker’s fees from Abbvie, BMS, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Galapagos, Janssen, MSD, Novartis, Orphazyme, Pfizer, Roche and UCB, all unrelated to this manuscript, and is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). RAA reports institutional research grants, honoraria, education support or consulting fees from Abbott Diabetes Care, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Menarini Pharmaceuticals, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Novo Nordisk. RG sits on advisory boards of Roche, Genentech, Belite Bio, AbbVie, Apellis, Astellas, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ocular Therapeutix, Complement therapeutics, Character Bioscience. SLM has provided consultancy on behalf of her institution for Roche/Chugai, Sanofi, AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Pfizer; investigator on clinical trials for Sanofi, GSK, Sparrow; speaking/lecturing on behalf of her institution for Roche/Chugai, Vifor, Pfizer, UCB, Novartis, Fresenius Kabi and AbbVie; chief investigator on STERLING-PMR trial, funded by NIHR; patron of the charity PMRGCAuk. No personal remuneration was received for any of the above activities. Support from Roche/Chugai to attend EULAR2019 in person and from Pfizer to attend ACR Convergence 2021 virtually. SLM is supported in part by the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre (NIHR203331). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR, the NIHR Leeds Biomedical Research Centre, the National Health Service or the UK Department of Health and Social Care. SS (Sobha Sivaprasad) has received financial support from AbbVie, Amgen, Apellis, Astellas, Bayer, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eyebiotech, Eyepoint Phamaceuticals, Iveric Bio, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Nova Nordisk, Optos, Ocular Therapeutix, Kriya Therapeutics, OcuTerra, Roche, Stealth Biotherapeutics and Sanofi. SSO holds is a consultant and holds equity in CytoReason. WA Consultancies/Advisory Board Memberships: Abbvie, Allergan, Alimera, Bayer, Novartis, Roche. Educational travel grants from Abbvie, Allergan, Alimera, Bayer, Novartis, Roche. Research grants from Allergan, Boerhinger Ingelheim, Bayer.

Update of

  • Defining an Ageing-Related Pathology, Disease or Syndrome: International Consensus Statement.
    Short E, Adcock IM, Al-Sarireh B, Ager A, Ajjan R, Akbar N, Akeroyd MA, Alsaleh G, Al-Sharbatee G, Alavian K, Amoaku W, Andersen J, Antoniades C, Arends MJ, Astley S, Atan D, Attanoos R, Attems J, Bain S, Balaskas K, Balmus G, Bance M, Barber TM, Bardhan A, Barker K, Barnes P, Basatemur G, Bateman A, Bauer ME, Bellamy C, van Beek E, Bellantuono I, Benbow E, Bhandari S, Bhatnagar R, Bloom P, Bowdish D, Bowerman M, Burke M, Carare R, Carrington EV, Castillo-Quan JI, Clegg P, Cole J, Cota C, Chazot P, Chen C, Cheong Y, Christopher G, Church G, Clancy D, Cool P, Del Galdo F, Dalakoti M, Dasgupta S, Deane C, Dhasmana D, Dojcinov S, Di Prete M, Du H, Duggal NA, Ellmers T, Emanueli C, Emberton M, Erusalimsky JD, Feldmeyer L, Fleming A, Forbes K, Foster TC, Frasca D, Frayling I, Freedman D, Fülöp T, Ellison-Hughes G, Gazzard G, George C, Gil J, Glassock R, Goldin R, Green J, Guymer R, Haboubi H, Harries L, Hart S, Hartley D, Hasaballa S, Henein C, Helliwell M, Henderson E, Heer R, Holte K, Idris I, Isenburg D, Jylhävä J, Iqbal A, Jones SW, Kalaria R, Kanamarlapudi V, Kempf W, Kermack AJ, Kerns J, Koulman A, Khan AH, Kinross J, Klaucane K, Krishna Y, Gill HS, Lakatta E, Laconi E, Lazar A, … See abstract for full author list ➔ Short E, et al. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2024 Sep 6:2024.09.02.24312951. doi: 10.1101/2024.09.02.24312951. medRxiv. 2024. Update in: Geroscience. 2025 Apr;47(2):1713-1720. doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01315-9. PMID: 39281746 Free PMC article. Updated. Preprint.

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