ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2020
Are We Approaching a Biological Limit to Human Longevity?
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Self-Giving and Reflections on Life Extension: How Love Might Shape the Choice of Whether to Live Past a Natural Human Lifespan.Bioethics · 2026Article
- Biological evidence of the life expectancy limit in human aging.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Genetic, Socioecological, and Health Research on Extreme Longevity in Semisupercentenarians and Supercentenarians: A Scoping Review.Journal of aging research · 2026Article
- Compensation effect of mortality is a challenge to substantial lifespan extension of humans.Biogerontology · 2024Article
- A Science-Based Review of the World's Best-Selling Book on Aging.Archives of gerontology and geriatrics · 2023Article
- Social Characteristics, Health, and Mortality Among Male Centenarians Using Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care.Research on aging · 2022Article
- Does the human lifespan have a limit?Nature · 2022Article
- Comparison of Japanese Centenarians' and Noncentenarians' Medical Expenditures in the Last Year of Life.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- Article
- Regularities in human mortality after age 105.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Until recently human longevity records continued to grow in history, with no indication of approaching a hypothetical longevity limit. Also, earlier studies found that age-specific death rates cease to increase at advanced ages (mortality plateau) suggesting the absence of fixed limit to longevity too. In this study, we reexamine both claims with more recent and reliable data on supercentenarians (persons aged 110 years and older). We found that despite a dramatic historical increase in the number of supercentenarians, further growth of human longevity records in subsequent birth cohorts slowed down significantly and almost stopped for those born after 1879. We also found an exponential acceleration of age-specific death rates for persons older than 113 years in more recent data. Slowing down the historical progress in maximum reported age at death and accelerated growth of age-specific death rates after age 113 years in recent birth cohorts may indicate the need for more conservative estimates for future longevity records unless a scientific breakthrough in delaying aging would happen. The hypothesis of approaching a biological limit to human longevity has received some empirical support and it deserves further study and testing.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.