Supercentenarians—who are they?

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Living to be 100 isn't as rare as it used to be. It is now

supercentenarians—individuals aged 110 and older--who are making

headlines. In the August, 2006 issue of The Journal of the American

Geriatrics Society, T Perls, MD, MPH of Boston University

Medical Center and colleagues report the health characteristics of

these long lived individuals, and reveal that a surprisingly

substantial portion were still functioning independently at the time

of the study.

Dr Perls' team analyzed 32 individuals between the ages of 110 and 119

who make up half of the supercentenarians living in the United States.

Twenty-seven of the participants were women. The 119 year old

participant was the oldest documented living person in the world at

the time of enrollment.

Five subjects were able to function independently, 8 with minimal

assistance, and 6 with partial assistance. Thirteen were classified

as very or totally dependent. One-fourth of the subjects had a

history of cancer, all of whom were cured. Only one participant was

diabetic and one had Parkinson's disease. Osteoporosis was more

common, with 44 percent suffering from the disease, and the majority

of the group had experienced cataracts. A predominant feature was the

near-absence of vascular disease. Only two participants had a history

of heart attack, and four had had strokes. Seven were taking

antihypertensive drugs.

The authors observed that the onset of functional decline and

age-related disease is delayed among centenarians, and hypothesized

that the same delay must be extended at least to the age of 100 to

enable a person to reach supercentenarian status. " By virtue of their

likely ability to markedly delay or escape age-related illnesses and

frailty and their probable sharing of traits that enable such

exceptional survival, supercentenarians are likely to be an important

resource for discovering environmental, behavioral, and genetic

factors that predispose to longevity and decreased susceptibility to

vascular and other lethal diseases associated with aging, " they conclude.

Abstract:

Characteristics of 32 Supercentenarians

A. Schoenhofen, BA*, Diego F. Wyszynski, MD, PhD+,

Andersen, BS, JaeMi Pennington, BS, Young, BA§, Dellara F.

Terry, MD, MPH, and T. Perls, MD, MPH

OBJECTIVES: To report phenotypic characteristics of 32 age-validated

supercentenarians.

DESIGN: Case series.

SETTING: U.S.-based recruitment effort.

PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-two supercentenarians.

MEASUREMENTS: Multiple forms of proof were used to validate age

claims. Sociodemographic, activities of daily living, and medical

history data were collected.

RESULTS: Age range was 110 to 119. Fifty-nine percent had Barthel

Index scores in the partially to totally dependent range, whereas 41%

required minimal assistance or were independent. Few subjects had a

history of clinically evident vascular-related diseases, including

myocardial infarction (n=2, 6%) and stroke (n=4, 13%). Twenty-two

percent (n=7) were taking medications for hypertension. Twenty-five

percent (n=8) had a history of cancer (all cured). Diabetes mellitus

(n=1, 3%) and Parkinson's disease (n=1, 3%) were rare. Osteoporosis

(n=14, 44%) and cataract history (n=28, 88%) were common.

CONCLUSION: Data collected thus far suggest that supercentenarians

markedly delay and even escape clinical expression of vascular disease

toward the end of their exceptionally long lives. A surprisingly

substantial proportion of these individuals were still functionally

independent or required minimal assistance.

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