Ageing and multimorbidity

Although growing old is no fun, it beats the other alternative. Unfortunately we are not built like the famous “One Hoss Shay” of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ poem, The Deacon’s Masterpiece. This marvellous horse drawn carriage ran for one hundred years to the day and then completely fell apart. We are not so lucky; as we age some body systems fail before others, leading to a vast array of morbidities that come into play and interact with each other. Understanding these morbidities, how they reinforce or detract from each other and their overall effects on the lung was a field that was largely ignored until about a decade ago.