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Heart disease, dementia, diabetes, frailty—what do these seemingly different conditions have in common? Aging. They are distinct diseases with different immediate causes, but age is one of the strongest risk factors for each of them. As we grow older, changes accumulate throughout our cells and tissues, including genomic damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, altered cellular signaling, loss of regenerative capacity, and other forms of biological deterioration. Over time, these changes can increase vulnerability to multiple chronic diseases.

This is why aging matters so much to medicine. Rather than viewing every age-associated disease as an entirely separate problem, we can also examine the underlying biological processes that make the body increasingly susceptible to disease in the first place. Cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, metabolic disorders, and frailty may have different clinical manifestations, but they share many of the biological changes associated with aging.

Aging-associated diseases account for a substantial proportion of illness, disability, and mortality worldwide. If we can better understand and safely target the biological processes that drive aging, we may be able to influence multiple diseases at once rather than treating each condition only after it appears. The central question is no longer simply how we treat the diseases of aging, but whether we can intervene in the biology that makes those diseases increasingly likely.