Population aging is accelerating globally. According to the United Nations, the number of individuals aged ≥65 years is projected to rise from 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion by 2050, representing nearly 16% of the world’s population. This demographic shift is expected to be accompanied by increased healthcare expenditure and disability burden if no effective interventions are implemented. Consequently, current health policies prioritize frailty prevention, falls prevention, functional optimization, and disability reduction in older adults.
In parallel, the past decade has seen rapid expansion in digital health, with artificial intelligence and emerging technologies increasingly integrated into health and care processes across clinical and community settings. These tools have demonstrated value in supporting the health and care of older adults, offering enhanced objectivity, efficiency, and scalability compared with traditional approaches. Advancing knowledge in this field may support the development of more effective strategies to mitigate frailty and disability in older adults, ultimately contributing to sustainable healthcare systems.
Population aging represents a major challenge for healthcare systems, with rising prevalence of frailty, multimorbidity, and disability contributing to increased healthcare utilization and expenditure. Despite policy efforts aimed at promoting healthy aging, current models of care remain largely reactive, fragmented, and insufficiently tailored to the complex needs of older adults. There is a clear need for innovative approaches that enable early detection, personalized interventions, and efficient resource allocation.
Emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and digital health tools, offer significant potential to transform the care and support of older adults across healthcare and community settings. These innovations can enhance evidence-based decision-making, facilitate remote monitoring, and improve risk stratification, enabling more proactive, equitable, and person-centred approaches to healthy aging. However, their integration into routine practice remains limited due to gaps in evidence, implementation challenges, and ethical considerations. Furthermore, the acceptance of these technologies among health professionals and older adults varies considerably across cultural and healthcare system contexts, underscoring the need for context-sensitive and equity-informed implementation strategies.
This Research Topic aims to explore how the application of artificial intelligence and new technologies can support the prevention of frailty and disability in older populations, ultimately contributing to improved health outcomes and more sustainable healthcare systems.
This Research Topic welcomes multidisciplinary research focused on the application and evaluation of artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and data-driven methods in the care and support of older adults. The aim is to promote understanding of how these tools can enhance prevention, health monitoring, and the long-term management of age-related conditions in older adult populations, with relevance to public health practice, policy, and equity.
Contributions may address—but are not limited to—the following themes:
- AI-driven prediction and prevention of major age-related public health priorities in older adult populations, including frailty, falls, cognitive decline and functional decline.
- Digital biomarkers and sensor-based monitoring of health, mobility, and functional status in older adults.
- Telemedicine and remote health assessment in older adult populations.
- Ethical, legal, social, and equity implications of AI use in the care of older adults, including access disparities and algorithmic bias.
- Integration of emerging technologies into public health systems, healthcare pathways, and community settings.
- Implementation science and evaluation of technology acceptance among older adults and health professionals across diverse cultural and geographic contexts.
We welcome submissions including original research articles, systematic reviews, mini-reviews, perspectives, and community case studies that contribute to advancing knowledge and practice at the intersection of aging, public health, and technological innovation.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
- Brief Research Report
- Clinical Trial
- Community Case Study
- Data Report
- Editorial
- FAIR² Data
- FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
- General Commentary
- Hypothesis and Theory
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Digital health, Older adults, Healthcare innovation, Telemedicine, Healthy aging, Digital health technologies, Remote health monitoring, Public health policy, Person-centred care., Aging population
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.