Heart Disease, Aged Arteries
An example from the BBC of the relationships between age-related conditions and greater biochemical wear and tear on specific organs. "The experts identified telomere damage - a biological sign of DNA ageing in the smooth muscle cells of diseased blood vessels. In patients with heart disease, the artery cells divided up to 13 times more rapidly than normal, prematurely ageing them. When artery cells age, they are less able to prevent fatty deposits from forming. This can narrow the arteries and cause heart attacks. ... The older the tissue, the less able it is to deal with physical or biochemical injury." Age is used very loosely in this article to reflect damage and reduction in capabilities. Some damage leads to age-related conditions; other damage leads to more and different damage. Failure of age-damaged biology can be a cascade - you should read up on reliability theory as it applies to aging and your body.