inflammaging

thumb|312x312px|Factors involved in inflammaging: Aging leads to perturbations in cellular homeostasis leading to inflammaging that results in pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. Inflammaging (also known as inflamm-aging or inflamm-ageing) is a chronic, sterile, low-grade inflammation that develops with advanced age, in the absence of overt infection, and may contribute to clinical manifestations of other age-related pathologies. Inflammaging is thought to be caused by a loss of control over systemic inflammation resulting in chronic overstimulation of the innate immune system. Inflammaging is a significant risk factor in mortality and morbidity in aged individuals.

Inflammation is essential to protect against viral and bacterial infection, as well as noxious stimuli. It is an integral part of the healing process, though prolonged inflammation can be detrimental. The network dynamics of inflammation change with age, and factors such as genes, lifestyle, and environment contribute to these changes. Current research studying inflammaging is focused on understanding the interaction of dynamic molecular pathways underlying both aging and inflammation and how they change with chronological age.