Understanding the Biological Determinants of Longevity: New Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

The major increases in human life expectancy that have occurred during the last two centuries (chiefly as a result of improvements in public health, housing, nutrition and general living standards) have taken place without any detailed knowledge of the biological determinants of longevity. These improvements have resulted in a general increase in survival during early life, through modification of extrinsic hazards which previously caused many premature deaths. The changes have been experienced most dramatically in developed countries but are also being experienced in the developing countries to a significant extent. Now that a greater fraction of the population is living to ages when longevity is limited by intrinsic biological constraints, it is becoming clear that further major changes in life expectancy are likely to depend on our understanding of the biological basis of aging.