Post-Protean Public Health and the Geroscience Hypothesis

Despite unprecedented investments in public health and biomedical research, improvements in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have stagnated in the United States. Part of the reason for this development can be traced back to the influence of Protean over Post-Protean public health, the names that can be given to two contrasting visions of public health advanced in the early twentieth century. Protean public health prescribes waging a war against disease and was successful in reducing the early-life mortality risks from infectious disease. But Protean public health has proven less effective in improving the quality of life of older persons. Post-Protean public health prioritizes the experimental method and research into the indirect methods of improving health. It articulated a vision of public heath that was given a more concrete specification by Alex Comfort in what is now referred to as the Geroscience Hypothesis. To improve the health prospects of aging populations the dominance of Protean public health must be relaxed, to enable the benefits of Post-Protean public health to be realized. Doing so means shifting public health's aspirations towards increasing the healthspan vs saving lives by extending the duration of time older persons can survive by managing the multimorbidities of late life.

Automated summary

Despite significant investments in public health and biomedical research, life expectancy and healthy life expectancy have remained stagnant in the United States. This can be attributed to the influence of two contrasting visions of public health – Protean and Post-Protean. While Protean public health successfully reduced early-life mortality risks, it has been less effective in improving the quality of life for older individuals. Post-Protean public health emphasizes experimental methods and research to indirectly improve health, aligning with the Geroscience Hypothesis. To enhance the health prospects of aging populations, the dominance of Protean public health needs to be relaxed, shifting focus towards increasing healthspan and managing late-life multimorbidities.