Adherence
Postponing the onset of chronic disease and disability through lifestyle interventions (primordial, primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention) compresses the period of morbidity, reducing lifetime disability and healthcare costs without necessarily extending maximum life expectancy.
To compress your morbidity, focus on preventing risk factors (primordial prevention) and reducing existing ones (primary/secondary prevention). This means avoiding smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and managing conditions like hypertension. These actions delay the onset of disability more than they extend your maximum lifespan, resulting in fewer years of suffering and lower healthcare costs. It is not inevitable; it requires active lifestyle management.
The Compression of Morbidity hypothesis, positing that the age of onset of chronic illness may be postponed more than the age at death, squeezing most of the morbidity in life into a shorter period with less lifetime disability, was introduced by our group in 1980.
Why this rating
Based on 20-year longitudinal studies, national surveys, and RCTs, though the paper notes it is not 'inevitable' and requires specific policy implementation.
Source
Compression of Morbidity 1980–2011: A Focused Review of Paradigms and Progress
James F. Fries et al. · Journal of Aging Research · 2011
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