Researchers at the Yale school of public health (Yale School of Public Health) conducted the most extensive to date, the study of the problem in society is not accepted to discuss.
we are Talking about the rejection of old age, older people and their exclusion from social life. All these “age prejudice” experts call the English word “ageism” (ageism).
Experts point out that until now the influence of such phenomena were little understood, and its implications for the health of older people was underestimated.
In the new large systematic review, the researchers working under the guidance of Professor Becca levy (Becca Levy), analyzed more than 400 scientific papers, which were attended by about seven million volunteers.
the Work was carried out in the framework of the recently launched Global campaign by the who to combat ageism, which is supported by 194 countries.
American experts considered that the effect of the rejection of old age in the society on the basic aspects of life. Proved, age stereotypes bad impact not only on personality traits of an elderly man and his perception of himself.
Age discrimination is a real danger to the health and threatens the elderly adverse outcomes in some chronic diseases and depression.
moreover, scientists have confirmed that the public hostility towards the elderly is reducing the life expectancy of the elderly.
Interestingly, from gender bias equally affected volunteers age from many different nationalities. Experts have found evidence that ageism harms the health of citizens at least 45 different countries ‘ level of development.
thus, in cultures with a traditionally negative attitude to old age (among them Germany, Australia, China) the life expectancy of the elderly in General reduced compared to representatives of other Nations.
the severity of ageism in society does not depend the level of development of the country. For example, in Nepal the elderly has long been perceived much more favorably.
the levy Group also reviewed the accessibility for the elderly medical care, duration of treatment, its adequacy and effectiveness in different countries. Alas, here the age of the patients was playing a cruel joke with them.
85% of studied works, the experts found evidence of denial of medical assistance to the elderly. Often because of age discrimination and limited access to some health services, the authors of the review.
In the vast majority of scientific articles (92%) also reported that advanced age negatively affects the decision of the doctors about how to treat an elderly patient. Eventually medical help was not effective enough. And this terrible trend, according to the researchers, increases.
“Dangerous prevalence of ageism, which documented our team, demonstrates the need to develop measures to overcome this problem,” – said Professor levy in a press release, Yale school of public health.
for More detailed conclusions of the American scientists set out in PLOS ONE open access.
we Add that the authors of the “News.Science” (nauka.vesti.ru) talked about the attempts of scientists to find the cause of aging and prevent and slow it down. We reported on why aging is still inevitable (although some old people are much healthier than their peers).
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Text: To.Science
