ArticleNature2016
Evidence for a limit to human lifespan.
Article in Nature, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 147 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
147 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Interventions for involving older patients with multi-morbidity in decision-making during primary care consultations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Against the "extend healthspan but not lifespan" cliché.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Global evidence for bounded human lifespan growth.Biogerontology · 2026Article
- Hematopoietic (stem) cells-The elixir of life?FEBS letters · 2026Review
- Centenarians and near-centenarians in India: empirical insights on health and well-being characteristics.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Cohort mortality forecasts indicate signs of deceleration in life expectancy gains.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Modulating biological aging with food-derived signals: a systems and precision nutrition perspective.npj aging · 2025Review
- Bridging expectations and science: a roadmap for the future of longevity interventions.Biogerontology · 2025Review
- Biomarkers of aging: from molecules and surrogates to physiology and function.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Healthy lifestyle factors outweigh influence of APOE genetic risk on extending cognitively healthy life expectancy among Chinese older adults: evidence from a nationwide cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Proteome Size Is Positively Correlated with Lifespan in Mammals but Negatively Correlated with Lifespan in Birds.Advanced biology · 2025Article
- Astrocytes in aging.Neuron · 2025Review
- Natural killer cell-based senotherapy: a promising strategy for healthy aging.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Article
- Age-associated myeloid malignancies - the role of STAT3 and STAT5 in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia.FEBS letters · 2024Review
- Extreme-value analysis in nano-biological systems: applications and implications.Biophysical reviews · 2024Review
- Article
- Structural characteristics of gut microbiota in longevity from Changshou town, Hubei, China.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Seven knowledge gaps in modern biogerontology.Biogerontology · 2024Article
- Colorectal cancer surgery in octogenarians: real-world long-term results.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2023Review
87 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Driven by technological progress, human life expectancy has increased greatly since the nineteenth century. Demographic evidence has revealed an ongoing reduction in old-age mortality and a rise of the maximum age at death, which may gradually extend human longevity. Together with observations that lifespan in various animal species is flexible and can be increased by genetic or pharmaceutical intervention, these results have led to suggestions that longevity may not be subject to strict, species-specific genetic constraints. Here, by analysing global demographic data, we show that improvements in survival with age tend to decline after age 100, and that the age at death of the world's oldest person has not increased since the 1990s. Our results strongly suggest that the maximum lifespan of humans is fixed and subject to natural constraints.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.