Geriatrician Bruno Vellas: “A 70-year-old now has an intrinsic capacity comparable to that of a 60-year-old two decades ago”

A 70-year-old today may have the intrinsic capacity that a 60-year-old had two decades ago, according to French geriatrician Bruno Vellas. The shift reflects the longer lives produced by modern medicine, but it also challenges health systems to rethink how they approach aging.

Vellas, founder of the IHU HealthAge in Toulouse, says doctors should begin assessing people’s physical and mental condition from the age of 50. Speaking at the BCNPit meeting in Barcelona and in comments to La Vanguardia, he argued that the central goal should be preventing dependence, rather than waiting to treat diseases after they have already undermined autonomy.

His proposed approach focuses on preserving key abilities, including sight, hearing, memory, psychological well-being and overall mobility. Vellas supports the World Health Organization’s ICOPE program, which continuously monitors physical and cognitive functions to identify early signs of frailty. In France, the program currently follows about 150,000 older adults. Digital tools such as ICOPE Monitor can help clinicians intervene before deterioration becomes irreversible, he said, adding that prevention should start well before people reach 80, when health conditions tend to become more complex.

Longevity science is also moving toward artificial intelligence and biomarker analysis. Omics technologies allow researchers to examine proteins and other markers simultaneously, offering a way to understand biological aging. Vellas said the field still requires rigorous academic validation to avoid purely commercial approaches, but he sees longevity medicine becoming an independent medical specialty. Measuring biological age could help explain why age-related diseases emerge in some people but not others.

His research also examines the links between biological aging and cognitive decline, including inflammaging, mitochondrial dysfunction and the accumulation of senescent cells. Alzheimer’s disease remains closely associated with biological age, which Vellas describes as its dominant risk factor. He argues that scientific collaboration and plasma biomarkers could soon reshape clinical practice. Preserving autonomy, he adds, would improve individual quality of life while supporting older people’s continued participation in economic and social life.

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A 70-year-old now has an intrinsic capacity comparable to that of a 60-year-old two decades ago.