Expectancy versus Maximum Life Span

Life Expectancy versus Maximum Life Span 

Do humans die of old age Certainly, the bioscientific medical model assumes that death always results from a single disease/event (e.g., acute myocardial infarction) or a combination of diseases (e.g., stroke followed by pneumonia). Although this model is generally believed to be true, on occasion it is difficult to defend since several diseases may be identified at autopsy but none appear severe enough to cause death, at least in a younger person, either singly or in combination. Perhaps aging predisposes one to the extent that a combination of mild diseases can result in death. 

Fries (FI 5) proposed that after traumatic deaths are excluded, the elimination of coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and various other chronic diseases would result in a maximum average life expectancy of 85 years. As these diseases become uncommon, he proposed that (a) the number of very old would not increase (b) the average period of decreased physical activity and vigor would decrease (c) chronic diseases would involve a smaller percentage of life span and (d) medical care needs in later life would decrease. Others, however, have argued against these predictions (S10). Nevertheless, from 1900 to 1990 there has been a definite rectangularization of the mortality curve (FI 5) in the United States, with a resultant compression of mortality (N6, N7). Thus, a person would ideally be healthy and both physically and mentally active until a very short time before a final illness strikes and death rapidly follows (Fig. 1). 

It is estimated that about 2000 years ago, the average life expectancy (birth to death) of a Roman citizen was 22 years (W6). From then to 1900 it increased to 47 years in the United States and over the subsequent nine decades (1992) increased to 75.8 years (G16) (Fig. 1). This remarkable increase in life expectancy since 1900 is due primarily to the prominent decline in neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality rates, along with the control of various infectious diseases. More recently, there has been a significant, albeit much less, reduction in early deaths due to coronary heart disease and stroke (i.e., due to atherosclerosis), as well as to improved management and treatment of diabetes mellitus, cancer, and various other chronic disorders. Nevertheless, the maximum theoretical life span has possibly increased slightly over the past many centuries. The oldest-ever documented person in the world, Jeanne Calment of France, died on August 4, 1997, at the age of 122 years, 5 months, and 14 days (W10). It has recently been suggested that the maximum life span could be extended to 130 years or more (M6). 

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Life Expectancy versus Maximum Life Span. 2... 

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