SINGAPORE - A new research centre for ageing will look at how social dimensions interact with medical conditions to affect ageing.
The Duke-NUS Centre for Ageing, Research and Education (Care) was announced by Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor on Tuesday, who said that multi-disciplinary research can be expected at the centre with investigators in social sciences, engineering and architecture working with clinicians and biological scientists.
Care will focus on four themes: Social integration and health, resilience, caregiving and the family, and work, lifelong learning and social engagement.
Dr Khor said that research at Care has already made headway in these themes when the centre identified that mortality risk - traditional calculated using numbers and types of diseases present - can be affected by loneliness levels.
"These findings on social isolation can advise policymakers and urban planners on how we should structure our living environments," she said during her speech at Care's inaugural conference on healthy life expectancy.
