The mean age of the human population is steadily increasing in many areas around the globe, a phenomenon with large social, political, economic and biological/medical implications. Inevitably, this phenomenon is stimulating great interest in understanding and potentially modulating the process of human aging. To foster interactions and collaboration between diverse scientists interested in the biochemical, physiological, epidemiological and psychosocial aspects of aging, The University of Copenhagen Faculty of Health Sciences recently organized and co-sponsored a workshop entitled Aging-From Molecules to Populations. The following questions about human aging were discussed at the workshop: What is the limit of human life expectancy? What are the key indicators of human aging? What are the key drivers of human aging? Which genes have the greatest impact on human aging? How similar is aging-related cognitive decline to pathological cognitive decline associated with neurological disease? Are human progeriod diseases, characterized by premature aging, good models for "normal" human aging? Is delayed or "elite" aging informative about "normal" human aging? To what extent and by what mechanisms do early life environmental factors influence aging-associated physical and cognitive decline? To what extent and by what mechanism does the social environment influence life course outcomes? What physiological factors underlie the timing and extent of aging-associated physical and cognitive decline? How do cultural stereotypes and perceptions of aging influence the process and experience of aging? One of the primary outcomes of the workshop was a recognition that cross-disciplinary studies and "out-of-the-box" approaches, especially those that adopt an integrated life course perspective on human health status, are needed to expedite advances in aging research. This and other outcomes of the workshop are summarized and discussed in this report.

中文翻译：

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老化——从分子到种群。

全球许多地区的人口平均年龄正在稳步上升，这一现象具有重大的社会、政治、经济和生物/医学影响。不可避免地，这种现象激发了人们对理解和潜在调节人类衰老过程的极大兴趣。为了促进对衰老的生化、生理、流行病学和社会心理方面感兴趣的不同科学家之间的互动和合作，哥本哈根大学健康科学学院最近组织并共同赞助了一个名为“从分子到人口的衰老”的研讨会。研讨会讨论了以下有关人类衰老的问题：人类预期寿命的极限是多少？人类衰老的关键指标是什么？人类衰老的关键驱动因素是什么？哪些基因对人类衰老的影响最大？衰老相关的认知衰退与神经系统疾病相关的病理性认知衰退有多相似？以过早衰老为特征的人类早衰疾病是“正常”人类衰老的良好模型吗？延迟或“精英”老化有关“正常”的信息 人类衰老？早期生活环境因素在多大程度上和通过什么机制影响与衰老相关的身体和认知能力下降？社会环境在多大程度上以何种机制影响生命历程结果？与衰老相关的身体和认知能力下降的时间和程度是什么生理因素？对衰老的文化刻板印象和观念如何影响衰老的过程和体验？研讨会的主要成果之一是认识到需要跨学科研究和“开箱即用”的方法，特别是那些采用综合生命历程视角看待人类健康状况的方法，以加快衰老研究的进展. 本报告总结和讨论了研讨会的这一成果和其他成果。