In 2023 the Chief Medical Officer for England’s Annual Report on Health in an Ageing Society identified the need for more research to include older people. The BGS supports this notion wholeheartedly and has joined several other organisations in signing a statement of intent to take action on this issue. We, along with all signatories, commit to integrating and advocating for the integration of older people into health and care research.
The CMO’s report found that relative to the proportion of disease, older adults are disproportionately underrepresented in research. Excluding older people from research is not only unethical, but it can result in treatments that are less effective for the very people who need them most. Many older people live with multiple long-term conditions, and it is vital that this group is included in research studies, including clinical trials.
Professor Miles Witham, BGS Vice-President for Research and Academic Affairs, said:
Health and care research is crucial in ensuring that older people get the best quality care. Older people, who often live with long-term conditions such as frailty and dementia, have been under-served by research for too long, and it is time that this changed.
We welcome this statement, and we will continue to contribute our expertise and advocate for more opportunities for older people to take part in research. By working together with other organisations committed to addressing this area of health inequity, we aim to enable research that will improve everyone’s ability to age well across the UK.”