Cited by 299Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk ManagementGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model OrganismsAging and Gerontology Research

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 25 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 5 of the 21 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

The plateau of human mortality: Demography of longevity pioneers

Open access

Abstract

Mortality rates level off at extreme age: The demography of human longevity is a contentious topic. On the basis of high-quality data from Italians aged 105 and older, Barbi et al. show that mortality is constant at extreme ages but at levels that decline somewhat across cohorts. Human death rates increase exponentially up to about age 80, then decelerate, and plateau after age 105. Science , this issue p. 1459

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

Using validated ISTAT data on all Italian inhabitants aged 105+ from 2009–2015, the authors find essentially level mortality hazards beyond age 105. The results provide strong evidence for an extreme-age mortality plateau in humans.

Key findings

  • Across 3,836 carefully documented cases (463 males) in 15 birth cohorts (1896–1910), hazard curves are essentially constant beyond age 105.
  • The Gompertz slope estimate is \(b = 0.013\) (SE 0.017), not statistically significant; a likelihood ratio test fails to reject the constant-hazard null at a level of 0.44, in contrast to a slope as large as 0.103 at ages 65–80.
  • For the baseline 1904 cohort, the estimated plateau is \(a = 0.645\), corresponding to an annual probability of dying of 0.475 and an expectation of further life of 1.55 years.
  • The cohort effect is \(\beta_1 = -0.020\) (SE 0.008), statistically significant; the male effect \(\beta_2 = 0.033\) is plausible but not statistically significant.

Methods

  • Data: ISTAT-collected and validated individual survival trajectories of all Italian inhabitants aged 105 and over from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2015; 3,836 cases, 463 males, 15 birth cohorts (1896–1910), with 2,883 observed deaths and 953 right-censored individuals.
  • Validation: municipality contacts, death certificates, survival certificates, and birth certificates for supercentenarians; age misreporting is believed minimal and the data are free of age ascertainment bias.
  • Analysis: maximum likelihood for truncated and censored survival data under a hazard model \(a\exp(bx)\exp(\beta_1 C + \beta_2 M)\), where \(C\) is cohort birth year minus 1904 and \(M\) indicates male; the null model constrains \(b = 0\), with likelihood ratio tests and cumulative-hazard checks.

Limitations

  • Stated: with 90% of person-years at risk before age 108, the ISTAT data cannot rule out alternatives such as a plateau followed later by decline, though supercentenarian estimates argue against such alternatives.
  • Stated: the 463 male survivors beyond 105 are too few for the gender effect to reach statistical significance.
  • Evident from the text: the analysis is based on a single nation, Italy, so generalization to other populations is not directly tested.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.aat3119

Cites

25 of 25 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

5 of 21 cited sources checked · 3 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 28 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 8
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 15
22 of 22
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Accurate mortality data at advanced ages are difficult to obtain.

    “Accurate mortality data at advanced ages are difficult to obtain.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    In vital statistics, the very old are often aggregated in one age-group.

    “In vital statistics, the very old are often aggregated in one age-group.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Even in countries with reliable vital registration, age exaggeration is common among the oldest-old.

    “Even in countries with reliable vital registration, age exaggeration is common among the oldest-old.”
3 of 3

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

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Show all 23 references

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. V. Kannisto Development of Oldest-Old Mortality 1950-1990: Evidence from 28 Developed Countries (Odense Univ. Press 1994).
  2. A. R. Thatcher V. Kannisto J. W. Vaupel The Force of Mortality at Ages 80 to 120 (Odense Univ. Press 1998).
  3. L. A. Gavrilov N. S. Gavrilova V. N. Krutko >“Mortality of supercentenarians: Does it grow with age?”in 2017 Living to 100 Monograph T. F. Harris Ed. (Society of Actuaries 2017) pp. 1–24.
  4. R. E. Beard >“Notes on some mathematical mortality models” in The Lifespan of Animals G. E. W. Wolstenholme M. O’Connor Eds. (Little Brown 1959) pp. 802–811.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 201–299 of 299

Metadata

Authors
Barbi, E., Lagona, F., Marsili, M., Vaupel, J. W., & Wachter, K. W.
Affiliations
  • Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
  • Roma Tre University (IT)
  • Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (IT)
  • Duke University (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
Corresponding author
Barbi, Elisabetta
Venue
Science
Published
2018-06-29
Volume
360
Issue
6396
Pages
1459-1461
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2811063823
Cited by
299
References
23
Citations by year
2026: 28 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 39 · 2018: 18
FWCI
70.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Iris (Roma Tre University) (submittedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
  • IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion)
Funders
U.S. National Institute on Aging (5P30AG012839)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Keywords
mortality plateau, hazard function, longevity, centenarians, oldest old
MeSH terms
Aged, 80 and over, Demography, Female, Humans, Italy, Longevity, Male, Mortality, Proportional Hazards Models

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