Most people, when asked, do not see ageing as a disease. In a , citizens (including doctors) were asked to rank 60 conditions, with only 12 strongly rated as diseases.
Options including insomnia, alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis, infertility and erectile dysfunction failed to make the 12. were at the bottom, along with wrinkles.
But what we consider a disease can and does change. For example, it was not until 1949 that mental disorders were first classified as diseases, and the American Psychiatric Association .
The first modern disease…
