A study of 3,836 centenarians in Italy finds that the increase in the risk of dying during a given year slows in extremely old age, leveling off to about a 50:50 risk after age 105. The researchers who reported the evidence today (June 28) in Science say the finding provides support for the idea that humans have not yet reached the extent of human longevity.
“The increasing number of exceptionally long-lived people and the fact that their mortality beyond 105 is seen to be declining across [the] cohort—lowering the mortality plateau or postponing the age when it appears—strongly suggest that longevity is continuing to increase over time and that a limit, if any, has not been reached,” the authors write in their study.
Scientists who study human aging have been debating whether there is in fact a maximum lifespan, or whether it’s possible to keep pushing the boundary. For instance, ...
