The Biosocial Construction of Age: On the Circulation and Legitimization of the Concept of Biological Age during Covid-19

The concept of biological age is defined in research in various ways but can generally be understood as an assumption that there is a reliable, measurable, and generalizable correlation between biological and chronological age. Based on such a definition, it can be noted that these processes have been explored across studies of different age groups, but with varying concepts. In Sweden, the political and social use of biological age gained prominence during Covid-19, when the National Board of Health and Welfare issued guidance that healthcare resource prioritization should not be based on chronological age, as this would constitute age discrimination. Instead, it was recommended, at both regional and national levels, that healthcare priorization should be guided by the concept of biological age. This paper discusses how the concept of biological age was used in the Swedish context during Covid-19.

The empirical material is twofold, consisting of regional and national policies on healthcare during the pandemic, as well as qualitative interviews with 16 individuals who participated in the drafting of guidance documents on the use of biological age in priorization processes at the national or regional level.The results show that the concept, without definition or problematization, circulated from the national level to regional contexts such as hospital care and medical care in nursing homes. They also highlight variations in the legitimization of the concept biological age among the informants. Overall, the results move biological age from being a concept reserved for medical and epidemiological research to having a place in critical age studies.