The View from the Top: Centenarians and Global Health

摘要

Over the past several decades, life expectancy has gradually increased throughout the world, and in some countries, such as Japan, the average life expectancy is now more than 80 years. Nevertheless, only about one to two persons per 10,000 will live to be one hundred years. Persons now aged 100 or more, were born on or before 1912, at a time when normal life expectancy was about 50 years. Thus centenarians are an example of a group that has successfully evaded the usual forces of mortality that affect all other humans. What can we learn from these remarkable, highly selected individuals, and what are the implications for global health?