With people surviving longer and with greater infirmity, the pressures on adults living among three other generations are increasing

Like the doctor in a corny joke, the study published last week by the Journals of Gerontology had some good news and some bad news.

The good news, say researchers from University College London (UCL) and Oxford University, is that people born in the 1940s and 1950s are living longer than their parents. The bad news is that they are more likely to be ill.