The available data on people who live to an exceptional age are often inaccurate. Research shows that many reports of extreme ages, such as stories of supercentenarians, are incorrect. This is due to errors, misunderstandings and sometimes even falsifications in the statistics. Especially for ages above 90, the figures are less reliable.
Although it is known that some people can live to be over 110, it is difficult to give accurate life expectancies for large groups. This is because at such exceptional ages it is hard to verify the exact age. Much more often than thought, those extremely high ages turn out not to have been correctly registered.
This unreliability has little impact on scientific research into ageing. It remains important to properly measure and understand biological ageing so that better treatments can be developed. The focus is on developing medical interventions that can improve health in later life.
For people interested in healthy and active ageing, this provides insight into why reliable data are important. It also emphasises that reaching an extremely high age is less common than is sometimes thought. Nevertheless, striving for a good quality of life remains the most important thing.
Source: Reason
