The secret seems to be getting through ‘the perilous 90s’, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley discovered when they tracked the lives of around 4,000 Italians who had reached the age of 105.
Beyond 105 years, there’s no clear cut-off point. “Our data tells us that there is no fixed limit to the human lifespan yet in sight,” said lead researcher Kenneth Wachter.
Their research found that the chances of dying within the following 12 months or living a further 18 months were 50/50 for people aged between 105 and 109. The odds were similar for those who’d reached the age of 110 and continued at a similar rate thereafter. If anything, your chances of dying after the age of 110 start to fall, but that’s statistics for you.
Things are trickier in your eighties and nineties. Mortality rates surge, with heart disease, dementia, stroke, cancer and pneumonia being responsible for most deaths.
(Source: Science, 2018; 360 (6396): 1459; doi: 10.1126/science.aat3119)
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