New horizons in advancing lifestyle medicine for older adults utilizing a transdisciplinary approach: gaps and opportunities

Rebecca K F Lassell^{1

2

3}, Kevin Pritchard⁴, Laura A Baehr⁵, Mirnova E Ceïde⁶, Sudeshna A Chatterjee⁵, Cristina Colón-Semenza⁷, Oshadi Jayakody⁸, Sarah B Lieber^{9

10}, Julia V Loewenthal¹¹, Christopher L Mosher^{12

13}, Elena Myasoedova¹⁴, Annalisa Na⁵, Una Makris^{15

16}, Andrea Sherman¹⁷, Anoop Sheshadri¹⁸, Kamal Wagle¹⁹, Mariana Wingood²⁰, Brian J Andonian²¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health & Wellness Design, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
² Center for Aging Research, Regenstrief Institute Inc-Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
³ Center for Health by Design, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
⁴ Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
⁵ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Medicine, Montefiore Einstein, Bronx, NY, USA.
⁷ Department of Kinesiology, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
⁸ Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1225, Morris Pk Avenue Bronx, Bronx, NY 10461-1900, USA.
⁹ Division of Rheumatology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
¹³ Duke University Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
¹⁴ Mayo Clinic Division of Rheumatology, Division of Epidemiology, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹⁵ Division of Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁶ Dallas VA North Texas Health Care System, Veterans Administration North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁷ Clin-STAR Coordinating Center, American Federation for Aging Research, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁸ Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Family Medicine, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Nutley, NJ, USA.
²⁰ Departments of Implementation Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
²¹ Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.

PMID: 40511981
PMCID: PMC12694740 (available on 2026-05-31)
DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afaf159

Review

New horizons in advancing lifestyle medicine for older adults utilizing a transdisciplinary approach: gaps and opportunities

Rebecca K F Lassell et al. Age Ageing. 2025.

. 2025 May 31;54(6):afaf159.

doi: 10.1093/ageing/afaf159.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health & Wellness Design, School of Public Health, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
² Center for Aging Research, Regenstrief Institute Inc-Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
³ Center for Health by Design, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA.
⁴ Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
⁵ Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁶ Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Medicine, Montefiore Einstein, Bronx, NY, USA.
⁷ Department of Kinesiology, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
⁸ Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1225, Morris Pk Avenue Bronx, Bronx, NY 10461-1900, USA.
⁹ Division of Rheumatology, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Division of Aging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
¹³ Duke University Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
¹⁴ Mayo Clinic Division of Rheumatology, Division of Epidemiology, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹⁵ Division of Rheumatic Diseases, Department of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁶ Dallas VA North Texas Health Care System, Veterans Administration North Texas Health Care System, Dallas, TX, USA.
¹⁷ Clin-STAR Coordinating Center, American Federation for Aging Research, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁸ Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Family Medicine, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Nutley, NJ, USA.
²⁰ Departments of Implementation Science, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
²¹ Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.

PMID: 40511981
PMCID: PMC12694740 (available on 2026-05-31)
DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afaf159

Abstract

Nearly half of premature deaths can be prevented with healthy lifestyle behaviours. However, most older adults do not adhere to established guidelines to promote a healthy lifestyle. We propose a tailored framework of lifestyle medicine that acknowledges the complex contexts and care needs of older adults. The proposed framework of lifestyle medicine for older adults integrates their lived experiences (e.g. social determinants of health, built environment), the 5 M framework of geriatric medicine (i.e. Mind, Mobility, Medications, Multicomplexity, Matters Most) and the six pillars of lifestyle medicine (i.e. nutrition/diet, physical activity/exercise, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances, positive social connections) through a novel transdisciplinary approach. Guided by the updated framework, key gaps and opportunities are presented to advance lifestyle medicine practice, research and policy with the goal of promoting sustained behaviour change and improving the healthspan of older adults.

Keywords: exercise; geriatrics; health promotion; lifestyle medicine; older people; prevention.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society 2025.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest: CLM: Consulting fees with COPD Foundation, Wellinks, International Consulting Associates, Inc., Guidepoint, Physicians Education Resources, LLC, Horizon CME and GlaxoSmithKline.

References

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1. Friedman SM, Mulhausen P, Cleveland ML et al. Healthy aging: American Geriatrics Society white paper executive summary. J Am Geriatr Soc 2019;67:17–20. 10.1111/jgs.15644. - DOI - PubMed
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New horizons in advancing lifestyle medicine for older adults utilizing a transdisciplinary approach: gaps and opportunities

Affiliations

New horizons in advancing lifestyle medicine for older adults utilizing a transdisciplinary approach: gaps and opportunities

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical