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High-Value Age Segments (HVAS) are proposed as a life-course framework for prioritizing health investment according to differences in marginal returns across age groups. Three broad periods are identified: early life from the fetal stage to approximately age 25, mid-adulthood from ages 26 to 55, and later adulthood from age 56 onward. Early-life interventions are associated with durable gains in health and human development, mid-adulthood interventions with delayed chronic disease onset and preserved productivity, and later-life interventions with reduced morbidity and maintenance of functional capacity. Embedding HVAS within policy frameworks may support more efficient and sustainable allocation of health resources under demographic aging.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1817328","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T05:33:20Z","timestamp":1782970400000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Rebalancing health investment across the life course: a high-value age segments framework for aging societies"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jin","family":"Tian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Management Innovation Research Center, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University","place":["Shijiazhuang, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhihua","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hospital Management Innovation Research Center, The First Hospital of Hebei 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