---
title: "Scientists Assert That the WHO Should Classify Aging as a Disease"
description: "Is it time to classify biological aging as a disease? One group of scientists thinks so, and they are asking the WHO to make it offical. "
date: "2015-12-29"
modified: "2015-12-29"
authors:
  - name: "Miguel Santos"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/heymigstwitter-com"
url: "https://futurism.com/scientists-assert-classify-aging-disease"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Aging"
  - "disease"
  - "insilico medicine"
  - "world health organization"
---

# Scientists Assert That the WHO Should Classify Aging as a Disease

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/IN.jpg>)

##### Aging as a Disease

A new controversy is brewing, as one group of scientists is recommending that aging be considered a disease.

Scientists from [Insilico Medicine](<http://insilicomedicine.com>) are highlighting the need to create a more granular and applied classification for what happens to our bodies when we age. Their work is outlined in a [recent paper published in Frontiers in Genetics](<http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fgene.2015.00326/full>). The classification that they argue for is based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), which is expected to be finalized in 2018.

In the study, CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc. Alex Zhavoronkov and his colleagues explore the evolution of disease classification practices and discuss a few additions to the ICD-10, which included obesity. Notably, they argue that this one addition, in particular, may set a precedent for the classification of aging as a disease.

The paper also looks at the progress made since William Cullen’s seminal *Nosolagae Methodicae synopsis* was published in 1769. You can see more information on Insilico, and learn about their mission, in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8

##### Pushing Research to Prevent Aging

The subject is a contentious one, with demographers, gerontologists, and biogerontologists all disagreeing on the subject.

Ultimately, the researchers believe that classifying aging as a disease will help direct resources to aging research and urge scientists and medical practitioners to work towards preventing pathological age-related processes. However, others assert that it devalues older individuals and could be used as a way of "otherizing" the elderly.

Zhavoronkov notes that the designation is non-traditional, but feels that it will be helpful in the long run: "Aging is a complex multifactorial process leading to loss of function and a very broad spectrum of diseases. While the notion of whether aging itself is a disease is usually disputed, classifying it as such will help shift the focus of biomedicine from treatment to prevention.”

“Classifying aging as a disease with multiple 'non-garbage' ICD codes may help create business cases for large pharmaceutical companies to focus more R&D resources on this important field. Considering the unprecedented increases in life expectancy and the heavy burden of medical costs in the developed countries, maintaining the human body in the disease-free youthful state for as long as possible is not just an altruistic cause, but a pressing economic necessity," he adds.

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