Average of five health problems per person in older Aussies

Flinders Strategic Professor Sue Gordon, Chair of Restorative Care in Ageing wants to see Australia move from an over burdened reactive health system to a proactive best health through middle and older life.

The university carried out research on a group of 561 seemingly healthy, community dwelling adults aged 40 to 75 years, and found that there was an average of five unidentified health problems per person, including undiagnosed blood pressure or early hearing loss.

The researchers tested hearing, memory, lung function, foot sensation, balance, diet and physical activity.

"People in their middle years are being sucked into the black hole of ageing," said Professor Gordon.

"Small reversible changes in health are accumulating unnoticed while people are time poor and their lives consumed by work and parenting.

"Often we don't notice the problem until it's too late for the individual to self-manage, and vastly more expensive to address.

"So even 40 and 50 year-olds have health issues, most of which are amenable to change."

The health issues included:

Many of the changes were reversible.

"This shows that individualised screening and self-management recommendations do improve health, even among people who feel healthy. It also may save lives and money later on," Professor Gordon said.

She has called for Australia to increase national spending of just 1.5% of the health budget on health promotion and prevention services.

"Individual health screening and self-management should be a cornerstone to empower healthy ageing in Australia and avoid the black hole of middle ageing."