After 105 years, life has no limits – Biotech

If there is a biological limit to human longevity, it has not been found yet. Indeed, once you reach age 105, the risk of dying stabilizes and remains constant. This means that after this age, it becomes impossible to tell what is the limit of the length of human life. This is demonstrated for the first time by Italian research published in the journal Science and conducted by the University Sapienza of Rome, in collaboration with those of Roma Tre, Berkeley and Southern Denmark and with Istat.

"There is a biological limit to the research coordinator, Elisabetta Barbi, from the Department of Statistics of Sapienza, told ANSA that human life is not still visible or has not been realized For some time, the scientific community has been wondering if and how the risk of dying would change with age

Some argue that the mortality risk curve continues to increase exponentially with age and those who are convinced that it will decelerate, to then reach a constant level at the highest ages. But to answer these questions, it was necessary to 39, accurately estimate the risk of mortality of ultracentrenarians, which until now was not possible due to the lack of reliable data.

Italian researchers have succeeded, on the basis of data about 4,000 Italians out of a hundred ns (for most women), collected between 2009 and 2015. In this way, it was possible to verify "that the risk of death accelerates exponentially with age until age 80, and then gradually decelerates , until it reaches a plateau and remains constant, or almost, after 105 years, "explained Barbi.

Another interesting fact emerged from the research is that "for the younger generation of birth, mortality levels are slightly lower," Barbi said. Combined with the growth of supercentenarians in recent years, this indicates an increase in human longevity over time. A pattern of mortality similar to the most extreme ages has also been observed in other animal species, such as insects and worms, suggesting that there is a common explanation from the point of view of the 39; evolution.

The discovery of this threshold, according to the researcher, "gives not only a clear and certain answer on the mortality curves, but is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms of human longevity and the future developments of theories on Aging. "It is a first" confirmation – he concludes – of the role played by selective survival, ie the fact that those who are less vulnerable and vulnerable to disease and death survive. "