Supercentenarians: a look into the lives of the world’s oldest old

With the trends in global life expectancy being relatively stable, supercentenarians – individuals who live to more than 110 years of age – are a puzzling outlier. Clustered in areas of the world known as the Blue Zones, the reasons for this population’s exceptional longevity are multifactorial. Enrichment of polymorphisms in certain genes (FOX03, APOE4, ACE, KLOTHO, and IL-6) are partially responsible for this longevity; however, equally important are shared lifestyle factors among members of this group (natural movement, plant-based diet, sense of community, and sense of purpose) and a uniquely developed gut microbiota enriched in C. minuta. Additionally, when comparing their life course to the general population, this group has a much lower incidence of common chronic conditions associated with mortality (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and dementia). If they do develop these conditions, it appears to be after 100 years of age, leading to the conclusion that they exhibit a compression of morbidity. One theory is that the cause of mortality in this group is organ exhaustion, prompted by the observation that many of them die within one year of becoming ill. Some of them are independent according to the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale, and do not represent a significant burden to the healthcare system. As the oldest known supercentenarian lived to 122 years of age, there is much debate around whether this represents the absolute maximum of human lifespan.