Back to Arguing for a Mortality Rate Plateau in Extremely Old Humans

I'm of the opinion that there simply isn't enough data on extremely old humans to do more than roll the dice on the outcome produced by any one statistical analysis, though the results noted here are based on a large enough study population to perhaps demand more attention than past efforts. The researchers have avoided the very sparse data for supercentenarians (110 and older) by focusing on people aged 105 to 110. They conclude that mortality rates stay much the same across that span, at more or less a 50% yearly attrition. This disagrees with one of the more recent attempts to run the numbers for supercentenarian mortality rates. Aging is defined as the increase of intrinsic mortality rate over time, and a lack of increase is therefore classed as functional immortality by some researchers. Not the useful, desirable sort of immortality, of course. This phenomenon has good supporting data in flies, a species that readily exhibits a late life mortality rate plateau. Whether this happens in mammals, and particularly in humans, is much debated. There are arguments on both sides. It is interesting to ponder whether this functional immortality represents only a temporary buffer in the state of a few critical systems, or would instead continue for much longer, were there enough data to follow mortality that far into physiological loss of function. The answers may never be known. It is unlikely that many times more physiologically extremely old people than exist today...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs