What is inflammaging?

Inflammaging is a chronic, low-grade inflammatory process that the body undergoes as you grow older. It is insidious: you can barely feel it, yet it is continuously present. Researchers regard it as a key driver of ageing itself, and as a risk factor for disease and premature death in older adults. There is as yet no standard method to measure it in the consulting room.

How does this smouldering inflammation arise? One of the causes is that cells become less efficient at clearing out their own waste. That self-cleaning process normally ensures that damaged proteins and poorly functioning energy factories in the cell (mitochondria) are broken down. When it works less well, those damaged components accumulate. This fuels the low-grade inflammation. This remains a plausible mechanism for now, not yet an established clinical fact.

Inflammaging has been linked to a range of conditions that occur more frequently in older adults: cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases. These are associations, not proven causal relationships. What does appear clearer is that inflammaging probably plays a direct role in the muscle loss that accompanies ageing (sarcopenia) and in physical frailty (also known as 'frailty'). The chronic inflammation contributes to muscle breakdown, and the combination with conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes amplifies the negative consequences.

Inflammaging also surfaces in joint complaints such as osteoarthritis. Aged cartilage cells in joints can exploit the inflammatory environment to survive, while at the same time contributing to the further breakdown of cartilage and joint tissue. This mechanism has been described in only a limited body of research and requires further confirmation.

The precise causes of inflammaging have not yet been fully clarified. What is clear is that it is an overarching process that plays a role in several age-related conditions simultaneously, rather than being a disease in its own right.