Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity.
TL;DR: The average age at first infirmity can be raised, thereby making the morbidity curve more rectangular, and present data allow calculation of the ideal average life span, approximately 85 years.
Abstract: The average length of life has risen from 47 to 73 years in this century, but the maximum life span has not increased Therefore, survival curves have assumed an ever more rectangular form Eighty per cent of the years of life lost to nontraumatic, premature death have been eliminated, and most premature deaths are now due to the chronic diseases of the later years Present data allow calculation of the ideal average life span, approximately 85 years Chronic illness may presumably be postponed by changes in life style, and it has been shown that the physiologic and psychologic markers of aging may be modified Thus, the average age at first infirmity can be raised, thereby making the morbidity curve more rectangular Extension of adult vigor far into a fixed life span compresses the period of senescence near the end of life Health-research strategies to improve the quality of life require careful study of the variability of the phenomena of aging and how they may be modified
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TL;DR: Prevalence and severity of health loss were weakly correlated and age-specific prevalence of YLDs increased with age in all regions and has decreased slightly from 1990 to 2010, but population growth and ageing have increased YLD numbers and crude rates over the past two decades.
7,021 citations
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TL;DR: Research suggests that ageing processes are modifiable and that people are living longer without severe disability, and this finding will be important for the chances to meet the challenges of ageing populations.
3,095 citations
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Simon I. Hay, Amanuel Alemu Abajobir1, Kalkidan Hassen Abate2, Cristiana Abbafati3 +800 more•Institutions (32)
TL;DR: At a global level, DALYs and HALE continue to show improvements and the importance of continued health interventions, which has changed in most locations in pace with the gross domestic product per person, education, and family planning.
3,029 citations
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TL;DR: The evidence presented in this paper suggests that the apparent leveling off of life expectancy in various countries is an artifact of laggards catching up and leaders falling behind, not a sign that life expectancy is approaching its limit.
Abstract: Is human life expectancy approaching its limit? Many--including individuals planning their retirement and officials responsible for health and social policy--believe it is, but the evidence presented in the
Policy Forum
suggests otherwise. For 160 years, best-performance life expectancy has steadily increased by a quarter of a year per year, an extraordinary constancy of human achievement. Mortality experts have repeatedly asserted that life expectancy is close to an ultimate ceiling; these experts have repeatedly been proven wrong. The apparent leveling off of life expectancy in various countries is an artifact of laggards catching up and leaders falling behind.
2,462 citations
References
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TL;DR: Ex-varsity athletes retained lower risk only if they maintained a high physical activity index as alumni, and peak exertion as strenuous sports play enhanced the effect of total energy expenditure.
Abstract: Risk of first heart attack was found to be related inversely to energy expenditure reported by 16,936 Harvard male alumni, aged 35-74 years, of whom 572 experienced heart attacks in 117,680 person-years of followup. Stairs climbed, blocks walked, strenuous sports played, and a composite physical activity index all opposed risk. Men with index below 2000 kilocalories per week were at 64% higher risk than classmates with higher index. Adult exercise was independent of other influences on heart attack risk, and peak exertion as strenuous sports play enhanced the effect of total energy expenditure. Notably, alumni physical activity supplanted student athleticism assessed in college 16-50 years earlier. If it is postulated that varsity athlete status implies selective cardiovascular fitness, such selection alone is insufficient to explain lower heart attack risk in later adult years. Ex-varsity athletes retained lower risk only if they maintained a high physical activity index as alumni.
1,994 citations
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01 Jan 1976
TL;DR: The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press, to preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions.
Abstract: In analyzing the factors that have improved health and enhanced longevity during the last three centuries, Thomas McKeown contends that nutritional, environmental, and behavioral changes have been and will be more important than specific medical measures, especially clinical or curative" measures. Originally published in 1980. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
918 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a theory of the kinetics of death is presented based upon the experimentally determined Gompertz function and the postulates that the distribution of stress magnitudes is a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution and an organism dies when stress magnitude exceeds the organism's maximum ability to compensate therefor.
Abstract: A theory of the kinetics of death is presented which is based upon the experimentally determined Gompertz function and the postulates that the distribution of stress magnitudes is a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution and an organism dies when stress magnitude exceeds the organism's maximum ability to compensate therefor. The theory predicts a zero-order loss of function versus age. This is borne out in human males by independent observation. The theory permits several independent calculations of the value of B, the percent of loss per year of physiologic function. The calculated values range from 0.9 to 1.4 percent per year and agree closely with the observed rates in human males. The theory predicts an inverse linear relationship between Gompertz slope and ln R/ sub 0/ (intercept), which is closely confirmed by observation. The theory predicts that the mean ratio of maximum reserve capacity to average demand lies between 7 and 11. Independent physiologic measurement data are in reasonable agreement with these values. The theory predicts the observed effects of prolonged or instantaneous exposure of experimental animals to ionizing radiation. The relative deleteriousness (D) of various national environments can be calculated. They have been found to differ by approximately 50 percent. We have beenmore » unable to make an independent test of these relative values. Despite the fact that it is derived for a homogeneous population the theory is shown to be not inconsistent with individual variability within a population. (auth)« less
552 citations
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TL;DR: Improvements in diet with concomitant declines in serum cholesterol concentration, decreased cigarette smoking, improved hypertension control, and possibly increased leisure-time physical exercise explain a portion of the decline in age-adjusted overall ischemic heart disease mortality in the United States between 1968 and 1976.
Abstract: Age-adjusted overall ischemic heart disease mortality declined by 20.7% in the United States between 1968 and 1976. Declines were recorded in both sexes, in all age groups, and in three ma...
211 citations
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TL;DR: The idea that physicians tend to take either an academic or pragmatic view of atherosclerosis is advanced and may help clarify the role of science in medicine.
Abstract: Henry Blackburn advanced the idea that physicians tend to take either an academic or pragmatic view of atherosclerosis.1 The academic view asserts that attempts to change individual living habits a...
104 citations