Longevity Roundtable at Innovation Week In Mexico

This week over a thousand health experts, prominent academics, government officials, and pharmaceutical executives from around the world will attend?Innovation Week in Mexico?organized by Mexican Association of Pharmaceutical Research Industries (AMIIF). I'm honored to join the?Inaugural Longevity Roundtable?with Cristobal Thompson, Executive Director of AMIIF, and Luis Calderon, General Manager of Biogen in Mexico. We will discuss the impact of increasing longevity and population aging in Mexico, the 10th most populous country in the world. Due to the pandemic participants and attendees will attend via Zoom and the event will be live streamed on YouTube.

Longevity Roundtable March 25, 2021

There are currently 1 billion people worldwide over 60 years of age. This demographic is growing at a rate of 2.5% compared to the rest of the population, which is growing at a rate of 0.7%. The population over 60 years of age represents the seventh largest economy in the world in economic terms. The world is undergoing a demographic shift and work is already underway to develop drugs to slow down aging. Hundreds of companies are working on treatments to address aging and age related diseases.

Aging populations raise questions about the sustainability of current systems for providing financial security and healthcare for older people. During this week's Longevity Roundtable we will compare the economic impact of increased longevity in countries like Mexico that have relatively young populations to countries such as Japan that have a high number of people over 60. We will explore the implications of potential longevity treatments and discuss how extended longevity may impact retirement age. We will also discuss the impact that the reduction in disease burden and later onset of chronic diseases will have on the health systems.

Life expectancy is a key indicator of the health of a population and of other economic and social factors that make it possible for people to reach a certain age.

Life Expectancy in Mexico

Life expectancy in Mexico increased from 49 years in 1950 to 75 years in 2020. Today heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and interpersonal violence are the biggest causes of death in Mexico. Life expectancy is shorter for men living in large cities in Mexico compared to other countries in Latin America and Mexican men have the largest life expectancy range (63 to 74 years) in Latin America. Acapulco Mexico has the lowest life expectancy for men in Latin America (63 years) and Acapulco, Acu?a, and Juarez in Mexico have the lowest city life expectancies for women in Latin America (74 years).

Image source: Life expectancy and mortality in 363 cities of Latin America. Nature Medicine January 2021?

Retirement Age in Mexico

In Mexico social security benefits are not provided universally. Only 26% of people 60 years and older have a retirement pension. 46% of men and 15% of women over 65 continue to work and 1 in 4 men still work at age 80. According to research conducted by Rand, Mexico has the highest average retirement age for men (72 years) and the second-highest for women (69 years) in all OECD countries. The average retirement age in OECD countries is 63 years for women and 64 years for men.

Centenarians

There are an estimated 573,000 centenarians worldwide. Japan has the highest number of centenarians. (57,525 females and 8,167 males). The ratio of female to male centenarians in Japan today is 7:1 and is expected to increase to 11:1 in the next decade. In 2010, the first population based study in Latin America on centenarians was conducted in Mexico City. Researchers identified 800 centenarians in Mexico City. 95% of the centenarians lived with relatives and only about 5% lived in nursing homes. Most other countries worldwide report that 50-60% of centenarians live in nursing homes.

Aging Research in Mexico

Mexico is home to over 325 professionals involved in aging research. More than 205 academic papers on aging have been published in Mexico in the last 10 years. 73% of these papers have been published in peer-reviewed journals in Mexico and internationally.

Innovation Week Speakers

AMIIF was founded in 1950 and this year is celebrating its 70th anniversary. AMIIF represents 60 Mexican pharmaceutical companies and brings together the most important national and international research-based pharmaceutical companies to support the development of new therapies and promote innovative health solutions.

The importance of having an environment of innovation that allowed a rapid response became clear during the pandemic. During Innovation Week, we will take a tour through some of the lessons that we have learned as an innovation industry and hear from key individuals in the health ecosystem. We will explore how to strengthen health systems so that, while responding to the emergency, care for other diseases is not neglected, how the agility of regulatory systems is key to keeping the health system functioning, and what health technologies were accelerated during.

Innovation Week Registration and Links

We invite you to attend Innovation Week via Zoom on March 23, 24, 25, 2021. The Longevity Roundtable is scheduled for 10:00 am CST on March 25, 2021. The Roundtable discussion will be live-streamed in English on YouTube.

Agenda for Healthcare Innovation Week

Registration for Healthcare Innovation Week

AMIIF's YouTube channel

References

The first Mexican longitudinal panel survey on aging was the Mexican Health & Aging (MHAS), collected from 2001 to 2015

Progression of Aging in Mexico: Mexican Health & Aging Study (MHAS) 2012 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4705907/

Data used in this article was compiled by the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) during 2010–2016. Analysis of the data was published in Nature Medicine in January 2021.

Life expectancy and mortality in 363 cities of Latin America. Nature Medicine (2021) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-01214-4

Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics of Centenarians in Mexico City https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5585632/

Rand Corporation https://www.rand.org/pubs/periodicals/health-quarterly/issues/v1/n4/01.html

Aging in Mexico: Population Trends and Emerging Issues https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/57/2/153/2646622

The stagnation of the Mexican male life expectancy in the first decade of the 21st century https://jech.bmj.com/content/69/1/28

Mexican states by life expectancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mexican_states_by_life_expectancy

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Copyright ? 2021 Margaretta Colangelo. All Rights Reserved.

This article was written by?Margaretta Colangelo.?Margaretta is a leading AI analyst based in San Francisco. She serves on the advisory board of the AI Precision Health Institute at the University of Hawai?i?Cancer Center.?

Twitter?@realmargaretta