Volume 8, Nº 1 (2018)

This article discusses aspects of population aging in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The demographic parameters of aging are analyzed, as well as their implications for various spheres of Kazakh society, such as healthcare, social security, and social services.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of long-term nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy on the severity of cognitive deficiency in elderly patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and the relationship between this effect and cytokine fluctuations in the blood serum of the patients. This prospective observational study took 540 ± 5.5 days and was conducted in two stages: phase I consisted of active medication therapy based on NSAIDs, and phase II was connected with nonpharmacological OA management. A cohort of 128 OA patients aged 65–75 years (the mean age was 70 ± 4.6 years, 10.2% men and 89.8% women) participated in the study. Patients from the main group were divided into four subgroups: the first group (n = 30) received etoricoxib at a daily dose of 60 mg, the second group (n = 32) took celecoxib at a daily dose of 200 mg, the third group (n = 32) was given a daily 100-mg dose of nimesulid, and the patients of the fourth group (n = 34) took meloxicam at a daily dose of 7.5 mg. The control group was formed of 40 patients with OA having analogous clinical and demographic characteristics and not taking NSAIDs in the previous six months and in the course of the study. The initial stiffness and pain indices were measured in all patients by the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) subscales, while their condition was evaluated during all visits to the clinic by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Scale along with laboratory investigations for the blood serum contents of Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β1, Interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6. Statistically significant decreases in the levels of cytokines were recorded in the period from the first to the third visits in all patients of the main group, as were increases in the indices of cognitive functions by the MoCA scale with a high degree of correlation relative to the cytokine indicators were observed by the end of the study. The results of the study have allowed us to suggest that the NSAID therapy may have an effect on the cognitive functions of elderly patients with OA in real clinical practice.

Society is not only a social, but also a biological, system. The growing complexity of biological systems inevitably leads to the loss of their potential immortality and to the emergence of the aging. The aging of the present-day civilization is evidenced by the problems that have accumulated in it. The question of whether its collapse can be stopped depends on the answer to a more general question of whether this supraorganismal system, which, due to growth of structural complexity, has acquired the property of aging, can, without losing the complexity that has been achieved, return to its ancestral potential immortality. A positive response is given to this question. There are supraorganismal systems that have been liberated from the necessity of aging. These are communities of social insects. Some of them were initially moral, but, in the course of evolution, have lost the aging attribute. Therefore, complex supraorganismal systems, including presentday civilization, can return to their ancestral potential immortality without losing their achieved structural complexity. The main obstacle to rejuvenating civilization is not the nature of things, but the mindset of human beings.

A comparative investigation of the epidemiological, clinical, and pathogenetic indices of cerebral stroke in 1153 representatives of different age has been conducted. The prevalence of the incidence of strokes among women of elderly and very elderly age is largely due to the higher life expectancy of women compared to men. A significant number of intracerebral blood effusions in elderly and very elderly age can arise secondarily after ischemic focus formation of the type of “red softening.” This, to a certain extent, can be explained by the high frequency of somatic complications of stroke, disorders of consciousness, and high mortality among persons older than 60 years compared to younger people. Less positive clinical outcomes of stroke at elderly and very elderly age, even when increasing the length of their hospital stay, may indicate shortcomings in the existing standards of diagnostics and treatment in people with a combination of background pathologies in stroke completely different from that of the young individuals.

This paper presents the results of construction and approbation of a theoretical model for measuring social exclusion of the elder population in Siberian regions. This study is based on the results of a sociological survey (2016) in three Russian regions: Altai krai, Zabaikalskiy krai, and Kemerovo oblast (n = 779, aged 55 (women) and 60 (men) years and older). The theoretical model includes the following components: social and economic (material) deprivation, deprivation of social rights (access to social institutes and services), deprivation of security (a safe environment), deprivation of social participation, cultural (normative) disintegration, and social autism. These components and indicators are specific for the group of people at retirement age, which is a priori a group potentially at risk of social exclusion. Social exclusion, as a condition and situation of deprivation, can be estimated directly from the intensity of its components. The model has a one-sided effect; i.e., the intensity of one of the exclusion indices can lead to an increased intensity of social exclusion. Based on the operationalized components of social exclusion, the index of exclusion components and the total social-exclusion index for elderly people, including its regional correlations, were assessed. The results of a posteriori testing of the proposed model demonstrate a good correlation between theoretical and empirical models of social exclusion in elderly people.

Emerging life-extension technologies and generally used therapies aimed at preventing agingrelated pathological processes have significant potential to alleviate the burden of disease in an aging world. However, promoting these technologies requires research of public opinion with the use of marketing techniques. We studied social attitudes toward life-extension technologies and use of geroprotective medicines by conducting three focus groups. The total sample included 18 people with university degrees 25–70 years of age who were living in Moscow (Russia). The tested statements were obtained in advance by surveying 30 experts in gerontology. The focus group participants were most in agreement with the statement that “aging prevention will help to maintain health and increase the active period of life.” Despite the doubts of experts, the idea that aging is a disease convinces a considerable share of the informants when the scientific evidence of the connection between aging processes and aging-related health damage is provided. Introducing new agendas into the discussion (pensions, overpopulation, etc.) turned out to be counterproductive due to new counterarguments emerging in the group discussions. The idea of radical life extension (200 years and more) was perceived skeptically. Some skepticism was attributed to mistrust and disappointment in the modern healthcare system in general. Gene therapies were perceived with caution. The word “geroprotector” is not well known even to the educated general public.