Healthy ageing literature review

Abstract

In August 2012 the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) and the Council on the Ageing (COTA) completed the Healthy ageing literature review for the Department of Health on evidence for effective strategies to promote healthy ageing. The review includes an overview of Australian and Victorian health policy and demographic context. It then discusses the evidence for various determinants of healthy ageing including healthy lifestyle factors and age-friendly environments. Finally it examines the strategies that have been used to promote healthy ageing in various settings and presents the current evidence base in relation to the effectiveness of these strategies for promoting health with older people. As this report is for the Department of Health it has a focus on issues that the department is able to contribute to addressing. While this report acknowledges and identifies the many broad issues affecting healthy ageing, the strategies reviewed and identified relate to the areas that the Department of Health is most able to influence.