Editorial Open Access

1 Why is the demograpy important? In the half century 2000-2050, there will be a virtual tsunami of aging in the United States. The anticipated increase in the population older than age 65 is 140%, and for the population older than age 85, 389%. More than half of the current U.S. population can anticipate living to age 80, with a contemporary life expectancy at age 75 of 11 years, and at age 85 of 6 years.[1] The classification of aging is variable. Often, age 65 years is used as a cutpoint, as that is the beginning age for Medicare health insurance coverage in the U.S. Others often use age 75 as the beginning of old age, and 85 years as characteristic of very old age. Perhaps a reasonable approach to old age is the comment by Pascal that “old age is just a time that is farther from the beginning and nearer to th