AnAge entry for Homo sapiens

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Succinctly, we humans age gradually. Although women tend to outlive men and there are gender differences in age-related pathologies, overall there are probably no differences between the sexes in terms of rate of ageing. Likewise, populations in different environments do not appear to greatly differ in rate of ageing even though they can differ on specific age-related diseases. Human mortality rates begin to exponentially increase after about age 30. The body's functional decline, however, starts after the sexual peak, roughly at age 19, and perhaps some functions decline even earlier in life [0014]. A peculiar phenomena, though not unique of humans, is that the MRDT increases after about age 65. This has been suggested to be a statistical effect rather than any unknown biological process [0031].

Jean Calment is recorded as the longest-lived human being [0029]. Compared to other species, of course, the maximum longevity of humans is based on a considerably larger sample. Therefore, it has been argued that, for comparative purposes, it is more adequate to use as human maximum longevity 90 or 100 years [0715].

The average human life expectancy worldwide is 66 years, ranging from 39 years in Zambia to 82 years in Japan. Among hunter-gatherers, the average life expectancy was probably around 30 years [0841].

Life history traits (averages)

Gene expression data for different developmental stages available at the Bgee database

Metabolism

References

[0798] Gardner et al. (2007), Telomere dynamics in macaques and humans, PubMed
[0841] Gurven and Kaplan (2007), Longevity among hunter–gatherers: a cross-cultural examination
[0607] Dou et al. (2006), Co-evolutionary analysis of insulin/insulin like growth factor 1 signal pathway in vertebrate species, PubMed
[0742] Miller and Austad (2006), Growth and aging: why do big dogs die young?
[0715] Lorenzini et al. (2005), Cellular replicative capacity correlates primarily with species body mass not longevity, PubMed
[0465] Corr (2004), Nuns and monkeys: investigating the behavior of our oldest old, PubMed
[0256] Finch and Stanford (2004), Meat-adaptive genes and the evolution of slower aging in humans, PubMed
[0331] Fukumoto et al. (2004), Beta-secretase activity increases with aging in human, monkey, and mouse brain, PubMed
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0253] Crews and Gerber (2003), Reconstructing life history of hominids and humans, PubMed
[0255] de Magalhaes (2003), Is mammalian aging genetically controlled?, PubMed
[0254] Kaplan and Robson (2002), The emergence of humans: the coevolution of intelligence and longevity with intergenerational transfers, PubMed
[0467] Lindenfors (2002), Sexually antagonistic selection on primate size
[0217] Ogburn et al. (2001), Exceptional cellular resistance to oxidative damage in long-lived birds requires active gene expression, PubMed
[0031] Rossolini and Piantanelli (2001), Mathematical modeling of the aging processes and the mechanisms of mortality: paramount role of heterogeneity, PubMed
[0189] Kapahi et al. (1999), Positive correlation between mammalian life span and cellular resistance to stress, PubMed
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0030] Vaupel et al. (1998), Biodemographic trajectories of longevity, PubMed
[0029] Michel Allard (1998), Jeanne Calment: From Van Goghs time to ours: 122 extraordinary years
[0076] Tekirian et al. (1996), Carboxy terminal of beta-amyloid deposits in aged human, canine, and polar bear brains, PubMed
[0405] Holmes and Austad (1995), Birds as animal models for the comparative biology of aging: a prospectus, PubMed
[0125] Tracy and Johnson (1994), Aging of a class of arteries in various mammalian species in relation to the life span, PubMed
[0014] Leonard Hayflick (1994), How and Why We Age
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0058] Finch et al. (1990), Slow mortality rate accelerations during aging in some animals approximate that of humans, PubMed
[0002] Caleb Finch (1990), Longevity, Senescence, and the Genome
[0111] Woodruff-Pak (1988), Aging and classical conditioning: parallel studies in rabbits and humans, PubMed
[0075] Selkoe et al. (1987), Conservation of brain amyloid proteins in aged mammals and humans with Alzheimer's disease, PubMed
[0110] Lippman (1985), Rapid in vivo quantification and comparison of hydroperoxides and oxidized collagen in aging mice, rabbits and man, PubMed
[0325] Passingham (1985), Rates of brain development in mammals including man, PubMed
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves
[0134] Rohme (1981), Evidence for a relationship between longevity of mammalian species and life spans of normal fibroblasts in vitro and erythrocytes in vivo, PubMed
[0059] Tolmasoff et al. (1980), Superoxide dismutase: correlation with life-span and specific metabolic rate in primate species, PubMed
[0436] Cutler (1979), Evolution of human longevity: a critical overview, PubMed
[0013] Alex Comfort (1979), Ageing: The Biology of Senescence
[0121] Deyl et al. (1971), Aging of the connective tissue: collagen cross linking in animals of different species and equal age, PubMed
[0065] The Human Mortality Database

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