Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Abstract

Centenarians: A Narrative Review

Tiffany Field*

Centenarians (100-109- years-old) were as many as 573,000 as of 2020. Most of the recent literature has been focused on identifying the unique characteristics of centenarians or predictor variables for their longevity. These have included genes, female gender, personality traits including extroversion and optimism, stress avoidance, resilience, social engagement, nutrition (especially Mediterranean or other Blue Zone diets), no smoking or chronic diseases, and physical biomarkers including low BMI, LDL and diastolic blood pressure. Although many negative effects have been expected for being centenarians, loneliness and frailty were the only prevalent problems in this recent literature. Although the lifestyle factors already mentioned have contributed to longevity, the most frequently discussed underlying mechanism has been chronic inflammatory status called “inflammaging” which has apparently been adaptive and less detrimental for centenarians than for younger aging samples. Unfortunately, studies on centenarians have been limited to cross-sectional or retrospective data, as the research on predicting extreme longevity has been relatively new.

Published Date: 2023-05-30; Received Date: 2023-05-04