Cochrane Global Ageing: “Let's build an evidence-based world for all ages.”

The UN International Day of Older Persons (IDOP), this year October 1, 2021, is a special date that marks the United Nations (UN) recognition of the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century. A day when we can celebrate increases in life expectancy and raise awareness of the need for action to ensure good health in older ages. The year 2021 also marks the beginning of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing, which is an unprecedented opportunity to foster healthy ageing and to promote the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of older adults around the world.

High-quality evidence is critical to ensure informed decision-making at all levels of societies, contributing to achieving the goals set for the decade.

We would like to join the celebration of this special day by sharing some of the high-quality evidence from the Cochrane Library and the Campbell Collaboration produced over the past twelve months. The COVID-19 pandemic remained a top priority, but relevant evidence was also produced regarding other several key topics for older adults.

We pledge to continue contributing to this global effort, whilst integrating a social and healthcare interdisciplinary perspective.

Happy International Day of Older Persons!

• Health, social care and technological interventions to improve functional ability of older adults: An evidence and gap map
• Voluntary work for the physical and mental health of older volunteers
• Interventions for reducing sedentary behaviour in community‐dwelling older adults
• Internal fixation implants for intracapsular hip fractures in older adults
• Anticholinergic burden (prognostic factor) for prediction of dementia or cognitive decline in older adults with no known cognitive syndrome
• Remotely delivered information, training and support for informal caregivers of people with dementia
• Non‐pharmacological measures implemented in the setting of long‐term care facilities to prevent SARS‐CoV‐2 infections and their consequences: a rapid review

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the authors and Review groups for producing the reviews in this blog. The image used on this blog  is from the Centre for Ageing Better free library of images. We would also like to thank the Centre for Ageing Better for creating this age positive resource. 

Blog written by Monserrat Conde, Director, Cochrane Global Ageing.