What if you could live forever? It's a question long pondered by fictional supervillains and Silicon Valley billionaires alike.
Now researchers in Japan say they may have taken a step toward boosting human longevity with successful trials of a vaccine against the cells that contribute to the ageing process.
In laboratory trials, a drug targeting a protein contained in senescent cells - those which have naturally stopped reproducing themselves - slowed the progression of frailty in older mice, the researchers from Tokyo's Juntendo University said.
Read more at:
Can we live forever? New anti-ageing vaccine could bring immortality one step closer | Euronews
Showing posts with label Life expectancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life expectancy. Show all posts
12/14/21
10/4/21
COVID-19 pandemic causes devastating drop in global life expectancy, study finds - by Shelby Brown
The COVID-19 pandemic set off significant global mortality increases in 2020, according to a study published Sunday in the International Journal of Epidemiology. Females from 15 countries and males from 10 had a "lower life expectancy at birth in 2020 than in 2015," the researchers said.
Life expectancy, a metric used when looking at population health and longevity, refers to the average number of years a newborn could expect to live if they experienced the death rates observed at the time of their birth for their whole life.
Read more at: COVID-19 pandemic causes devastating drop in global life expectancy, study finds - CNET
Life expectancy, a metric used when looking at population health and longevity, refers to the average number of years a newborn could expect to live if they experienced the death rates observed at the time of their birth for their whole life.
Read more at: COVID-19 pandemic causes devastating drop in global life expectancy, study finds - CNET
12/23/19
USA - Labor Force: life expectancy continues downward spiral, study shows - by Jorge L. Ortiz
The engine that powers the world’s most potent economy is dying at a
worrisome pace, a “distinctly American phenomenon’’ with no easily
discernible cause or simple solution.
Those are some of the conclusions from a comprehensive new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University showing that mortality rates for U.S. adults ages 25-64 continue to increase, driving down the general population’s life expectancy for at least three consecutive years.
The report, “Life Expectancy and Mortality Rates in the United States, 1959-2017,’’ was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study paints a bleak picture of a workforce plagued by drug overdoses, suicides and organ-system diseases while grappling with economic stresses.
“This looks like an excellent paper – just what we needed to help unravel the overall decline in life expectancy in the U.S.,’’ said Eileen Crimmins, an associate dean at the University of Southern California who’s an expert on the link between health and socioeconomic factors.
Read more at: US life expectancy continues downward spiral, study shows
Those are some of the conclusions from a comprehensive new study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University showing that mortality rates for U.S. adults ages 25-64 continue to increase, driving down the general population’s life expectancy for at least three consecutive years.
The report, “Life Expectancy and Mortality Rates in the United States, 1959-2017,’’ was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study paints a bleak picture of a workforce plagued by drug overdoses, suicides and organ-system diseases while grappling with economic stresses.
“This looks like an excellent paper – just what we needed to help unravel the overall decline in life expectancy in the U.S.,’’ said Eileen Crimmins, an associate dean at the University of Southern California who’s an expert on the link between health and socioeconomic factors.
Read more at: US life expectancy continues downward spiral, study shows
11/27/19
U.S. life expectancy being driven down by middle-aged deaths, study suggests
After rising for decades, life expectancy in the U.S. decreased for three straight years, driven by higher rates of death among middle-aged Americans, a new study suggests.
Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/us-life-expectancy-jama-1.5374066
Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/us-life-expectancy-jama-1.5374066
4/4/19
HEALTH - THE FOOD WE EAT : Could cut your life short..
The diets cutting one in five lives short every year
Read more at:
11/27/18
EU Health Report: EU residents living longer but pay-gap and mental health still cause for concern
EU Health report: we’re living longer but the pay-gap and mental health still cause for concern
Read more at:
7/10/18
Health: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy - by Khasmira Gander
Life is short, the saying goes, and exactly how much time we
have before we shuffle off this mortal coil is anyone’s guess. But this
uncertainty could be consigned to history, according to the creators of a
blood test they claim can predict a person's life expectancy.
The test measures what the scientists at Yale University call a person’s “phenotypic age,” The Guardian reported. Put simply, if a person’s phenotypic age is higher than their chronological age, they may be at greater risk of dying. It works by measuring nine biomarkers in the body, the authors wrote in a paper published in the biological sciences archive bioRxiv. The paper was not peer-reviewed.
Dr. Morgan Levine, assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine, explained to The Guardian the test can identify differences in life expectancy among individuals who are seemingly healthy.
The team defined "healthy" as being free of disease and having a normal BMI.
"It’s [the test] picking up how old you look physiologically," Levine told the newspaper. "Maybe you’re 65 years old but physiologically you look more like a 70-year-old, so your mortality risk is more like that of a 70-year-old.”
A clinician could therefore use the results as the basis for personalized lifestyle advice on how to prevent diseases and raise a patient's life expectancy, she said.
To develop the test, the researchers analyzed 42 clinical measures documented in participants of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Factors such as their lifestyle and medical history were recorded, as well as a cause of death where relevant. The measures included glucose levels, white blood cell count and levels of albumin, a protein made by the liver.
“Phenotypic age was significantly associated with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality,” the authors wrote.
Every year a person’s phenotypic age was above their real age, their risk of dying rose by 14 percent in those between 20 to 39 years old; 10 percent in the 40- to 65-year-old category, and 8 percent among 65 to 84 year olds. Overall, people who aged fastest had more diseases than those who aged at a slower pace.
The test can also differentiate among individuals who appear to be healthy, and “who may have otherwise been missed using traditional health assessments,” the authors wrote.
It is unclear if and when the test will be rolled out in the general population. Yale University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Levine told The Guardian the team hopes the test will help "the majority of the population who are middle-aged, who don't have things wrong with them."
Read more: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy
The test measures what the scientists at Yale University call a person’s “phenotypic age,” The Guardian reported. Put simply, if a person’s phenotypic age is higher than their chronological age, they may be at greater risk of dying. It works by measuring nine biomarkers in the body, the authors wrote in a paper published in the biological sciences archive bioRxiv. The paper was not peer-reviewed.
Dr. Morgan Levine, assistant professor of pathology at Yale School of Medicine, explained to The Guardian the test can identify differences in life expectancy among individuals who are seemingly healthy.
The team defined "healthy" as being free of disease and having a normal BMI.
"It’s [the test] picking up how old you look physiologically," Levine told the newspaper. "Maybe you’re 65 years old but physiologically you look more like a 70-year-old, so your mortality risk is more like that of a 70-year-old.”
A clinician could therefore use the results as the basis for personalized lifestyle advice on how to prevent diseases and raise a patient's life expectancy, she said.
To develop the test, the researchers analyzed 42 clinical measures documented in participants of the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Factors such as their lifestyle and medical history were recorded, as well as a cause of death where relevant. The measures included glucose levels, white blood cell count and levels of albumin, a protein made by the liver.
“Phenotypic age was significantly associated with all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality,” the authors wrote.
Every year a person’s phenotypic age was above their real age, their risk of dying rose by 14 percent in those between 20 to 39 years old; 10 percent in the 40- to 65-year-old category, and 8 percent among 65 to 84 year olds. Overall, people who aged fastest had more diseases than those who aged at a slower pace.
The test can also differentiate among individuals who appear to be healthy, and “who may have otherwise been missed using traditional health assessments,” the authors wrote.
It is unclear if and when the test will be rolled out in the general population. Yale University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Levine told The Guardian the team hopes the test will help "the majority of the population who are middle-aged, who don't have things wrong with them."
Read more: When Will I Die? Scientists Develop New Blood Test That Could Reveal Life Expectancy
6/4/15
Life Expectancy: Ubble: the online test to predict if you'll die within five years
If you are a middle-aged man and want to know if you are going to die
in the next five years, you simply need to ask yourself how healthy you
think you are.
Whether you would rate your health as excellent, good, fair or poor is a better predictor of death in the next five years for men aged 40 to 70 than physical measures including blood pressure and pulse rate, according to scientists writing in the Lancet medical journal. Other significant questions include how briskly you walk and how many cars you own.
The first major publication from scientists using data from the UK Biobank scores 655 different measures that can affect the chances of premature death. The researchers have used this to put together a short questionnaire. Just 13 questions for men and 11 for women will produce a percentage risk factor for death within five years.
While self-assessed health is the strongest risk factor for men, the strongest for women is any diagnosis of cancer, which is the biggest cause of women’s death in this age group. For people of both sexes who do not have any serious disease or disorder, smoking is the most significant factor.
The website, called Ubble (for UK Longevity Explorer), also tells people their “Ubble age”. If their Ubble age is lower than their real age, then their risk of early death is also low. If it is higher, say researchers, people might like to think about making possible improvements to their health such as stopping smoking and a better diet.
The website has been designed with the help of the charity Sense About Science.
The death rates in the 40-70 age group are low. Among the nearly 500,000 Biobank participants, 8,352 died over a five-year period – fewer than 2%. There are no questions about weight or body mass index because they will not impact mortality over a five-year period.
The researchers found that how many cars a household owned was a factor, however – because more cars indicated a more affluent family. Walking briskly was more obviously an indicator of better health.
he scientists, Professor Erik Ingelsson from Uppsala University and Dr Andrea Ganna from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, have also put their more detailed findings about the 655 significant measures on the website.
To do the test click here.
Read more: Ubble: the online test to predict if you'll die within five years | Science | The Guardian
Whether you would rate your health as excellent, good, fair or poor is a better predictor of death in the next five years for men aged 40 to 70 than physical measures including blood pressure and pulse rate, according to scientists writing in the Lancet medical journal. Other significant questions include how briskly you walk and how many cars you own.
The first major publication from scientists using data from the UK Biobank scores 655 different measures that can affect the chances of premature death. The researchers have used this to put together a short questionnaire. Just 13 questions for men and 11 for women will produce a percentage risk factor for death within five years.
While self-assessed health is the strongest risk factor for men, the strongest for women is any diagnosis of cancer, which is the biggest cause of women’s death in this age group. For people of both sexes who do not have any serious disease or disorder, smoking is the most significant factor.
The website, called Ubble (for UK Longevity Explorer), also tells people their “Ubble age”. If their Ubble age is lower than their real age, then their risk of early death is also low. If it is higher, say researchers, people might like to think about making possible improvements to their health such as stopping smoking and a better diet.
The website has been designed with the help of the charity Sense About Science.
The death rates in the 40-70 age group are low. Among the nearly 500,000 Biobank participants, 8,352 died over a five-year period – fewer than 2%. There are no questions about weight or body mass index because they will not impact mortality over a five-year period.
The researchers found that how many cars a household owned was a factor, however – because more cars indicated a more affluent family. Walking briskly was more obviously an indicator of better health.
he scientists, Professor Erik Ingelsson from Uppsala University and Dr Andrea Ganna from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, have also put their more detailed findings about the 655 significant measures on the website.
To do the test click here.
Read more: Ubble: the online test to predict if you'll die within five years | Science | The Guardian
1/13/14
Life expectancy USA: Century-long lifespans present challenges - by Barbara Peters Smith
The expectation that most American children younger than 14 today will live to see their 100th birthdays is beginning to seem a lot less far-fetched to many researchers who study worldwide longevity trends.
Read more: Century-long lifespans present challenges | HeraldTribune.com
Even now, one prominent scientist says the “life expectancy revolution” is giving us “roughly a 10-year postponement” of death.
“Mortality is being shifted outward,” said James Vaupel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. “All you have to do is look at the historical change in the start of old age, the point when your chance of death rises above 1 percent. For Swedish women in 1950 this happened at age 57; in 1960 it was age 63, and in 1970 it was 68.”
The prospect of living to 100 stirs up lots of emotions, but it is especially daunting for actuaries — the folks who juggle sophisticated math equations to set the prices and payouts for pensions, annuities, life insurance and long-term care policies.
If they bet wrong on when baby boomers will die, the insurance and financial services industries could be in turmoil.
Lately, their normally quiet and careful profession has experienced a dramatic upheaval: In the last 10 years, according to best estimates, the number of people over the age of 110 appears to have doubled.
Read more: Century-long lifespans present challenges | HeraldTribune.com
3/12/13
Life expectancy: Americans Face Shorter Life Span, Life Expectancy Suggests in NIH Study - Jim Toedtman
The doctor's news is not good. Americans are in poorer health and are dying sooner than the rest of the industrialized world. Call it the "mortality gap."
The facts are disquieting. A 2011 study of 17 industrialized countries — 13 in Western Europe, plus the U.S., Australia, Japan and Canada — found that American men, whose life expectancy is 75.6 years, ranked last, and U.S. women, at 80.7 years, ranked 16th. Worse, this gap has been widening for the past three decades.
Wonder why this is happening? So did the National Institutes of Health, which ordered a broad study of U.S. deaths involving drugs and alcohol, obesity and diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, infant mortality, injuries and homicides, and HIV and AIDS. Researchers found what they called "a pervasive pattern of shorter lives and poor health" crossing all socioeconomic lines.
Although the United States spends nearly twice as much on health care as other countries, Americans eat too much, rely on cars too much and get medical care that is often inaccessible and unaffordable. More specifically, the study cited the lack of access to primary care physicians and Americans' relatively unhealthy behaviors. While Americans drink and smoke less than their peers, they eat more calories per person, use seat belts less, are more prone to gun violence and have higher rates of drug abuse. Demographic trends and next year's expansion of medical coverage will put even more pressure on the shorthanded U.S. medical workforce. Our dependence on cars gets special attention, too, for helping create neighborhoods that discourage walking and contribute to obesity.
The study concludes, "The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries, but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary. Superior health outcomes in other nations show that Americans also can enjoy better health."
Note EU-Digest: bottom line - watch those calories !
Read more: Americans Face Shorter Life Span, Life Expectancy Suggests NIH Study - AARP
The facts are disquieting. A 2011 study of 17 industrialized countries — 13 in Western Europe, plus the U.S., Australia, Japan and Canada — found that American men, whose life expectancy is 75.6 years, ranked last, and U.S. women, at 80.7 years, ranked 16th. Worse, this gap has been widening for the past three decades.
Wonder why this is happening? So did the National Institutes of Health, which ordered a broad study of U.S. deaths involving drugs and alcohol, obesity and diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, infant mortality, injuries and homicides, and HIV and AIDS. Researchers found what they called "a pervasive pattern of shorter lives and poor health" crossing all socioeconomic lines.
Although the United States spends nearly twice as much on health care as other countries, Americans eat too much, rely on cars too much and get medical care that is often inaccessible and unaffordable. More specifically, the study cited the lack of access to primary care physicians and Americans' relatively unhealthy behaviors. While Americans drink and smoke less than their peers, they eat more calories per person, use seat belts less, are more prone to gun violence and have higher rates of drug abuse. Demographic trends and next year's expansion of medical coverage will put even more pressure on the shorthanded U.S. medical workforce. Our dependence on cars gets special attention, too, for helping create neighborhoods that discourage walking and contribute to obesity.
The study concludes, "The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries, but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary. Superior health outcomes in other nations show that Americans also can enjoy better health."
Note EU-Digest: bottom line - watch those calories !
Read more: Americans Face Shorter Life Span, Life Expectancy Suggests NIH Study - AARP
3/5/13
Britain: Study shows UK among unhealthiest of W Europe nations
Despite six decades of free medical care and widespread health campaigns, Britons are among the unhealthiest people in Western Europe, a new study says.
International researchers analysed the country's rates of sickness and death from 1990 to 2010 in comparison to those of 15 other Western European countries in addition to Australia, Canada and the US Experts described the UK results as "startling" and said Britain was failing to address underlying health risks in its population, including rising rates of high blood pressure, obesity and drug and alcohol abuse.
"It's incredibly surprising," said Dr. Christopher Murray, who studies health metrics at the University of Washington in Seattle and is the lead author of the latest report.
"We all think of the UK as having a great health system and as one of the most sophisticated medical research communities in the world," he wrote in an email. "Nobody would have really expected that the UK would be toward the bottom."
Overall, the UK was 12th for healthy life expectancy, with most Britons expected to live 68.6 years in good health. The United States came in 17th out of 19 countries with 67.9 years. Spain topped the charts with a healthy life expectancy of 70.9, while Finland came last, with most Finns likely to live 67.3 years in good health. Australia ranked third with 70.1 years, while Canada was fifth with 69.6 years.
Read more: Study: UK among unhealthiest of W Europe nations - Indian Express
International researchers analysed the country's rates of sickness and death from 1990 to 2010 in comparison to those of 15 other Western European countries in addition to Australia, Canada and the US Experts described the UK results as "startling" and said Britain was failing to address underlying health risks in its population, including rising rates of high blood pressure, obesity and drug and alcohol abuse.
"It's incredibly surprising," said Dr. Christopher Murray, who studies health metrics at the University of Washington in Seattle and is the lead author of the latest report.
"We all think of the UK as having a great health system and as one of the most sophisticated medical research communities in the world," he wrote in an email. "Nobody would have really expected that the UK would be toward the bottom."
Overall, the UK was 12th for healthy life expectancy, with most Britons expected to live 68.6 years in good health. The United States came in 17th out of 19 countries with 67.9 years. Spain topped the charts with a healthy life expectancy of 70.9, while Finland came last, with most Finns likely to live 67.3 years in good health. Australia ranked third with 70.1 years, while Canada was fifth with 69.6 years.
Read more: Study: UK among unhealthiest of W Europe nations - Indian Express
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