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Chances of Joining Centenarians Best for First Born
Daughters of Farmers
Also helps with birthday in January, raised on farm
in the West
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Life Expectancy at Age 80 in
years by birth month
This shows the effects of month of
birth on life expectancy at age 80 for persons born in 1885 and
1891. Click graphic for larger view. |
Nov. 8, 2005 Centenarians (people living to age
100) represent one of the fastest-growing age groups in America -
increasing by 4.1 percent a year. But, if you want to be a member of
this elite group, your chances are best if you are a first born daughter
from a large family, have a birthday in January and were raised on a
farm in the West.
Those are some of the indications from new
research, developed by the Society of Actuaries in partnership with
researchers at the Center on Aging and the National Opinion Research
Center at the University of Chicago.
The number of U.S. centenarians has increased by 51
percent in the 10-year period from Jan. 1, 1990 to Jan. 1, 2000.
The researchers found that first-born daughters are
three times more likely to survive to age 100, compared to later born
daughters. First-born sons are twice more likely to become centenarians
compared to sons having birth order between four and six. They found,
however, an unusual U-shaped form among males, with both the first born
and last born had the highest chances of longevity.
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It was also shown that month of birth has a
significant effect on later-life mortality and lifespan.
This study found that life expectancy at age 80
depends on the month of a person's birth: individuals born in January
live longer lives than persons born in other months and in April-June in
particular. This periodicity repeats in every studied birth group
starting from birth year 1885 to 1899. However, by age 100 this
dependence of survival on month of birth fades out, indicating that
centenarians indeed represent a selected population.
Drs. Natalia Gavrilova and Leonid Gavrilov
collected data from publicly available computerized genealogies of 75
million individuals identified in previous studies and validated ages
and birth dates by linking records to the Social Security Administration
Death Master File and reviewing U.S. censuses for years 1900, 1910 and
1920.
They evaluated detailed family data for nearly
1,000 centenarians born in the U.S. from 1875 to1899.
The study supports the idea that early childhood
conditions might be important for survival to advanced ages, said Dr.
Natalia Gavrilova.
Limited access to parental care, including
attention and supervision, may result in less attention being paid to
the health and safety of later-born children, resulting in a higher risk
of infections and malnutrition during early childhood.
The data further suggests that children born to
parents who are farmers and childhood residence in the Western region of
the U.S. may be indicators for subsequent survival to age 100. The study
determined that children of farming parents who lived in the Mountain
Pacific and West Pacific regions of the U.S. have a greater chance of
surviving to age 100 than those from the Midwest and Northeast areas of
the country.
Without the type of food processing thats
currently available, living on a farm 100 years ago meant fresher food
with more nutrient value, said Thomas Edwalds, Fellow of the SOA and
chairman of the project oversight committee. This very well might
correlate to prenatal and childhood nutrition as factors of exceptional
longevity.
Actuaries are skilled at measuring risks, and this
research helps us better understand the predictors of longevity and
quantify the implications on society and business, continued Edwalds.
This research also illustrates that studies on human longevity could be
modernized and advanced further by using new computerized data resources
such as genealogies.
The Society of Actuaries is an educational,
research and professional organization dedicated to serving the public
and its 18,000 members. The SOAs vision is for actuaries - business
professionals who analyze the financial consequence of risk - to be
recognized as the leading professional in the modeling and management of
financial risk and contingent events. The SOAs mission is to advance
actuarial knowledge and to enhance the ability of actuaries to provide
expert advice and relevant solutions for financial, business and
societal problems involving uncertain future events.
To learn more, or read the full study, visit
www.soa.org.
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