Factors Favoring Longevity; Disability at 100

Physician's First Watch for February 12, 2008

David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief

Factors Favoring Longevity; Disability at 100

Exceptional longevity is neither so elusive nor as disabling as was once thought, according to two studies in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers in the first study examined the factors associated with living to age 90 and beyond in a cohort of the Physicians' Health Study followed for some 25 years. Among men born before 1916, the presence of one of five risk factors at age 70 reduced the adjusted odds of survival to age 90. The risk factors (and their associated hazard ratios for dying before 90) were smoking (
2.10), diabetes (1.86), obesity (1.44), and hypertension (1.28). Regular exercise conferred a 30% lower mortality risk.

In the second study, researchers studied disease and disability among centenarians and found that about a third had suffered from a disabling condition like COPD, diabetes, or dementia for over 15 years and that most required either minimal or no assistance in their daily lives.

An editorialist offers wryly that, although the successfully aged may have undefined reserves, "an alternative explanation might be that their primary care physicians aggressively treated their chronic illnesses rather than assume ageist nihilism about treating the oldest old."

Archives of Internal Medicine article on longevity in men (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
Archives of Internal Medicine article on longevity and disability (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
Archives of Internal Medicine editorial (Subscription required)