The estimated number of centenarians reaches its highest historical level, touching, on 1 January 2023, the threshold of 22 thousand units, over two thousand more than the previous year. Centenarians are overwhelmingly women, cwith percentages above 80 per cent from 2000 to today. Istat says so in its annual report. Demographic scenarios predict a substantial increase in the so-called “old people”: in 2041 the population over 80 will exceed 6 million; that of the over-90s will even reach 1.4 million.
“The increase in centenarians demonstrates that, not only does the population age, but above all that it ages well, in a positive and active way”, explains the president of the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics Andrea Ungar. According to the expert, “having so many centenarians can be a great study model for aging and, therefore, it could also be a resource from a scientific point of view”.
However, to get above 90 – and even more so above 100 – one must “be particularly healthy up to a very advanced age. The centenarian usually up to at least 85 years of age he is a fully active man and at the peak of his strength”adds Ungar. “So, although the lengthening of the average life raises the problem of frailty and chronicity, it is equally true that in Italy the vast majority of the elderly age well. Only 10% age badly and do so in the last stages of life”.
Exceeding 100 years was a very rare thing before, but it is becoming less and less so. “This justifies the entry into common use of the term Fifth Age, starting from the age of 90. If the maximum life expectancy does not seem modifiable – explains Niccolò Marchionni, president of the Italian Society of Geriatric Cardiology – equal to about 120 years, we are however increasing the number of subjects who are approaching that limit”.
The reasons are both environmental and genetic. “Genes – specifies Marchionni – have an impact of no more than 30% while for the rest, it is lifestyles that weigh. First of all, a Mediterranean diet, with few calories, rich in fruit, vegetables and omega 3. Among the conditions what super centenarians have in common is maintaining social relationships, living at home and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, maintaining continuous moderate physical activity, such as walking”.