In the UK, the number of people aged above 85 is set to double from 1.3 million in the next 20 years.
More than 2 million Britons will be living with four or more chronic illnesses within 20 years due to time spent living a sedentary lifestyle new research published in the journal Age and Ageing said.
A third of those suffering from four or more diseases would have mental health problems such as depression or dementia.
The report said there was now a “pressing need” to consider the implications on social care because of the link between multiple chronic diseases and reduced functional capacity.
A study of 303,589 individuals aged 35 years and over found that 54% of people above 65 in 2015 already had two or more chronic illnesses. It predicted that by 2035, 2.5 million, or 17%, of people over 65 would have four or more chronic illnesses, while 67% of this group would be living with two or more.
Prof Carol Jagger, professor of epidemiology of ageing at Newcastle University and one of the report’s authors, explained, “It is primarily the lifestyle factors that are driving these diseases. We are much more sedentary than we were before.”
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