Professor Philip Rowe | University of Strathclyde; Susan Kelso | University of Strathclyde
Competition Sponsor: UK Research & Innovation
Awardee Year: 2020
The LifeCurveTM is an expression of compressed functional decline and describes the set order of functional loss through normal ageing. There are 15 activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living on the LifeCurveTM all of which are required for independent living and which older people have reported as fearing the loss of more than dying.
The Scottish Government Active and Independent Living Programme which ran from 2017 to March 2020 undertook a national survey with allied health professions using the LifeCurveTM and found that when people see an AHP they broadly fall into 3 LifeCurveTM stages: 23% at precurve stage, 13% at mid curve stage and 40% at the end stages of the LifeCurveTM. By linking survey results with use of health care services, it was identified that the further someone progresses on their LifeCurveTM the more health care service are used with associated increased costs. From £2,500 at precurve to £6,000 at mid curve and £10 – 12,000 at the later stages on the LifeCurveTM. In terms of changing an individuals ageing trajectory, it could be said that AHPs are currently intervening too late in a persons ageing journey to make significant changes.
To learn more about this proposal email healthylongevity@nas.edu.