scispace - formally typeset
Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Biodemography of human ageing.

James W. Vaupel
- 24 Mar 2010 - 
- Vol. 464, Iss: 7288, pp 536-542
TLDR
Research by demographers, epidemiologists and other biomedical researchers suggests that further progress is likely to be made in advancing the frontier of survival — and healthy survival — to even greater ages.
Abstract
Human senescence has been delayed by a decade. This finding, documented in 1994 and bolstered since, is a fundamental discovery about the biology of human ageing, and one with profound implications for individuals, society and the economy. Remarkably, the rate of deterioration with age seems to be constant across individuals and over time: it seems that death is being delayed because people are reaching old age in better health. Research by demographers, epidemiologists and other biomedical researchers suggests that further progress is likely to be made in advancing the frontier of survival — and healthy survival — to even greater ages.

read more

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

HIV Infection, Inflammation, Immunosenescence, and Aging

TL;DR: Novel therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing or reversing these immunologic defects that persist despite effective suppression of HIV replication may be necessary if HIV-infected patients are to achieve normal life span.

Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution

TL;DR: The theory that biological species are descended from common ancestors provides an indispensable heuristic to understand why living organisms are what they are and do what they do.
Journal ArticleDOI

Future life expectancy in 35 industrialised countries: projections with a Bayesian model ensemble

TL;DR: There is more than a 50% probability that by 2030, national female life expectancy will break the 90 year barrier, a level that was deemed unattainable by some at the turn of the 21st century.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Oxidative Stress, Caloric Restriction, and Aging

TL;DR: Support for this hypothesis includes the following observations: (i) Overexpression of antioxidative enzymes retards the age-related accrual of oxidative damage and extends the maximum life-span of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster and (ii) Variations in longevity among different species inversely correlate with the rates of mitochondrial generation of the superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide.
Journal ArticleDOI

Ageing populations: the challenges ahead

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.
Journal ArticleDOI

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.
Journal ArticleDOI

Broken Limits to Life Expectancy

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.
Journal ArticleDOI

The impact of heterogeneity in individual frailty on the dynamics of mortality.

TL;DR: Calculations based on Swedish mortality data suggest that standard methods overestimate current life expectancy and potential gains in life expectancy from health and safety interventions, while underestimating rates of individual aging, past progress in reducing mortality, and mortality differentials between pairs of populations.
Related Papers (5)