Since retiring at 64 I have volunteered within our senior community with people remaining in their homes as they age and with people living in various types of residential care facilities. Friends have heard me say many times that I would never want to reach 100, no matter what.
Then I heard about Captain Thomas Moore, the British World War II veteran who raised more than 39 million dollars for British healthcare workers. Shortly before his 100th birthday in late April, he started a campaign to raise $1250 by walking 100 laps in his garden. He wore a coat and tie and his military medals and pushed his walker. Captain Moore’s optimism and perseverance inspired so many people during the difficult Covid period, that more than 1.5 million people contributed, raising almost $40 million dollars. He became Captain Sir Thomas Moore in July when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. This centenarian joked to reporters before the ceremony that If he had to kneel down he would never be able to get back up.
Before reading about Captain Moore I had never thought that centenarians could still enjoy the good feelings that he mentioned coming from his accomplishment and recognition at his advanced age. According to the US Census Bureau, less than one tenth of one percent of the US population reach 100. I have joked with people that with my daily exercise classes, healthy eating and lots of sleep during Covid I would probably live to be 100. Just in case, I decided I wanted to find out more about this elite group.
Who are they? The New England Centenarian Study began in 1995 as a population-based study of all centenarians living in 8 towns in the Boston area. The NCES now includes centenarians from the US and other countries and is now the largest comprehensive study of centenarians in the world. There are currently 1600 centenarians, 500 children (in their 70’s and 80’s) and 300 younger controls. Also included in this group is the largest by far sample in the world of super-centenarians (age 110+ years). There are about 107 of these oldest of the old subjects in the study currently.
In the US and other industrialized nations, centenarians occur at a rate of 1 per 6000 people. As this study was starting in 1994 the rate was 1 per 10,000 people. This increase indicates that centenarians are one of the fastest growing segments of our population. Eighty-five percent of centenarians are women and fifteen percent are men. Super-centenarians (aged 110+) occur at a rate of 1 per 5 million.
Several geographic areas have claimed residents with extreme longevity but after close study these claims have been found to be false. The oldest person with multiple proofs of age is Madame Calment who died at age 122 in 1997.
One goal of the NCES is to understand what factors centenarians had in common that might explain their longevity. They vary widely in years of education (no years to post-graduate), socioeconomic status (very poor to very rich), religion, ethnicity and diet (vegetarian to diet high in saturated fats). However, the centenarians studied were found to have a number of characteristics in common.
-Few were obese and men were almost always lean.
-Substantial smoking history is rare.
-Preliminary results indicate that centenarians are better able to handle stress.
-Their finding that some centenarians (approximately 15%) showed no significant changes in their thinking abilities which disproved the common belief that all centenarians would have dementia and that Alzheimer’s Disease is inevitable. This delay in or escape from Alzheimer’s has been of particular interest to the study authors.
-Many centenarian women have a history of bearing children after the age of 35 and even 40.
-At least 50% of centenarians have first-degree relatives and/or grandparents who also achieved very old ages.
-Many children of centenarians (now 65-82) appear to be following in their parents’ footsteps.
-Some families demonstrate incredible clustering for exceptional longevity that cannot be due to chance and must be due to familial factors that members of these families share.
-Based on standardized personality testing, offspring of centenarians score low in neuroticism and high in extraversion.
-Studies of siblings of centenarians and of super-centenarians indicate that exceptional longevity runs very strongly in families.
The authors of the New England Centenarian Study expend significant resources to disseminate their findings and to advocate for older people, providing an optimistic and enabling view of aging. They contend that most people have the genetic makeup to live into their mid to late eighties in very good health and like the centenarians deal with age related illnesses towards the end of their lives. This is dependent upon healthy behaviors including a diet conductive to being lean, not smoking and strength training exercise. They say the philosophy of healthy living will have a much greater impact now on many more people than their genetic research.
To be continued in Part Two …