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Centenarians – a Useful Model for Healthy Aging? a 29-Year Follow-Up of Hospitalizations Among 40 000 Danes Born in 1905

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Centenarians – a Useful Model for Healthy Aging? a 29-Year Follow-Up of Hospitalizations Among 40 000 Danes Born in 1905 Aging Cell (2009) 8, pp270–276 Doi: 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2009.00474.x Centenarians – a useful model for healthy aging? A 29-year follow-up of hospitalizations among 40 000 Danes born in 1905 Henriette Engberg,1 Anna Oksuzyan,1,2 Bernard represent healthy agers. Centenarians constitute a useful Jeune,1 James W. Vaupel2 and Kaare Christensen1 study population in the search for fixed traits associated 1The Danish Aging Research Center, Epidemiology Unit, Institute with exceptional longevity, such as genotype. of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Key words: centenarians; exceptional longevity; fixed Denmark traits; healthy aging; hospitalization. 2Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany Introduction Summary Centenarians surpass the current human life expectancy with about 20–25 years. This remarkable accomplishment has Centenarians surpass the current human life expectancy captured the attention of researchers for decades; what does with about 20–25 years. However, whether centenarians it take to make it to 100? Are centenarians able to teach us represent healthy aging still remains an open question. how to stay healthy even in their very advanced age? And has Previous studies have been hampered by a number of the road to 100 been blessed with better health compared methodological shortcomings such as a cross-sectional with contemporaries who died at much younger ages? design and lack of an appropriate control group. In a lon- Rowe & Kahn (1998) defined the term ‘successful aging’ as gitudinal population-based cohort, it was examined ‘avoidance of disease and disability; maintenance of high whether the centenarian phenotype may be a useful physical and cognitive function; and sustained engagement in model for healthy aging. The study was based on a com- social and productive activities’. Other definitions of successful plete follow up of 39 945 individuals alive in the Danish aging are proposed, but at present no consensual definition 1905 birth cohort on January 1, 1977 identified through has been established (Depp & Jeste, 2006). Because centenari- the Danish Civil Registration System (DCRS). Data from ans live at the extreme of the human lifespan, they may have the Danish Demographic Database and The Danish reached very advanced age because of a unique capability to National Patient Register (in existence since 1977) were postpone disease and disability into their later years of life used. The 1905 cohort was followed up from 1977 and as such represent healthy aging. In the past decade, sev- through 2004 with respect to hospitalizations and num- eral papers have dealt with the examination of the centenar- ber of hospital days. Survival status was available until ian phenotype as a model for healthy aging (Hitt et al., 1999; December 2006. Danish centenarians from the 1905 Andersen-Ranberg et al., 2001; Franceschi & Bonafe, 2003; cohort were hospitalized substantially less than their Bernstein et al., 2004; Andersen et al., 2005; Berzlanovich shorter-lived contemporaries at the same point in time et al., 2005; Motta et al., 2005; Gondo et al., 2006). during the years 1977 through 2004. For example, at age The interest in centenarians as a model for healthy aging is 71–74, the proportion of nonhospitalized centenarians driven by the desire to identify key factors associated with was 80.5% compared with 68.4% among individuals who exceptional longevity in humans. Centenarians may represent a died in their early 80s. This trend was evident in both unique study population in the search for fixed traits associated sexes. As a result of their lower hospitalization rates and with exceptional longevity, for example genotype. The quest length of stay in hospital compared with their contempo- for the genetics of exceptional longevity has initiated large and raries, who died at younger ages, Danish centenarians multinational research programmes such as The EU-Integrated Project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Aging) (Franceschi et al., 2007) and the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) initiated by the Correspondence National Institute on Aging (NIA), USA (Long Life Family Study, Professor Kaare Christensen, The Danish Aging Research Center, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløwsvej 9B, 2008). However, whether centenarians, in fact, represent a Cell 5000 Odense C, Denmark. Tel.: +45 6550 3049; fax: +45 6550 3682; useful model for healthy aging still remains a subject of debate e-mail: [email protected] (Martin, 2000; Jeune, 2002; Christensen et al., 2006). The work was carried out at The Danish Aging Research Center, Institute A number of methodological issues are pertinent to the of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, J. B. Winsløwsvej 9B, investigation of centenarians as prototypes of healthy aging. 5000 Odense C, Denmark. Previous studies have all been based on cross-sectional surveys Accepted for publication 10 March 2009 of centenarians (Beregi & Klinger, 1989; Poon et al., 1992; Aging 270 ª 2009 The Authors Journal compilation ª Blackwell Publishing Ltd/Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2009 Centenarians – a useful model for healthy aging?, H. Engberg et al. 271 Louhija et al., 1994; Candore et al., 1997; Samuelsson et al., period April 1, 1968, through January 1, 2003, were 1997; Allard, 1998; Andersen-Ranberg et al., 1999, 2001; excluded from the study population. In addition, individuals Perls et al., 1999; Motta et al., 2005; Selim et al., 2005; who temporarily (n = 217) migrated from Denmark during Gondo et al., 2006; Ozaki et al., 2007; Willcox et al., 2007; the period before or after January 1, 1977, and returned Darviri et al., 2008; Martin et al., 2008). Some use retrospec- some time between 1977 and 2003, were excluded from the tive data collection to estimate the level of morbidity and dis- study population. Thus, the study population consisted of ability before the respondents’ 100th birthday (Hitt et al., 39 945 individuals, and of these 22 264 were women and 1999; Andersen-Ranberg et al., 2001; Willcox et al., 2007) 17 681 men. The 1905 cohort was followed up from 1977 and others compare centenarians with younger age groups through 2004 concerning hospitalizations and number of (Candore et al., 1997; Andersen-Ranberg et al., 1999; Selim hospital days. et al., 2005; Martin et al., 2008). A few of these studies indi- cate that centenarians have been healthy or well functioning Measures throughout most of their lives (Samuelsson et al., 1997; Hitt et al., 1999; Willcox et al., 2007; Darviri et al., 2008). Key Vital statistics data issues are the risk of high attrition rates and difficulties in Information on the date of birth and the date of death was identifying and locating every potential respondent for a sur- retrieved for every person in the cohort until December 2006. vey (Hitt et al., 1999; Ozaki et al., 2007; Darviri et al., 2008), The cohort was then divided into 5-year-age groups, except potentially leading to a selected study population. Age valida- for the first and the last one, according to age at death. The tion is crucial to the correct reports of centenarian prevalence age groups were 71–74, 75–79, 80–84, 85–89, 90–94, 95– (Jeune & Vaupel, 1999). Ideally, to avoid cohort effects, cente- 99, 100+ years of age. narians should be compared with members of their own birth cohort. Moreover, the trajectories of healthy aging are most Hospitalization preferably studied in a longitudinal framework, where infor- mation on relevant markers of aging processes is collected Denmark has a free healthcare system, and the Danish prospectively. Finally, a follow-up study requires a well-defined National Patient Registry contains information about somatic study population and careful ascertainment of each partici- hospitalizations, the number of hospital days and diagnoses pant to minimize the risk of selection bias. for each individual admitted to a hospital in Denmark (Ander- In the present study, we examined whether centenarians sen et al., 1999). Information on hospitalization was available represent a useful model for healthy aging by following the during the period January 1, 1977, through December 31, complete Danish 1905 birth cohort from 1977, when there 2004, for every individual included in the study. Hospitaliza- were 40 355 individuals alive in the cohort, until 2005 regard- tion was a binary variable indicating whether or not the par- ing hospitalizations and length of stay in hospital. We showed ticipant had been hospitalized, and only inpatients qualified as that centenarians in their 70s and 80s were hospitalized hospitalized individuals. Except from the ICD-8 Y00-Y96 diag- substantially less than their shorter-lived contemporaries. noses (general medical examination or observation of different organ systems or in relation to child birth and pregnancy), and the ICD-10 Z00-Z99 diagnoses (factors influencing health Methods status and contact with health services) and U00-U99 diagno- In Denmark, every citizen is listed in the Civil Registration Sys- ses (codes for special purposes such as SARS or contact with tem (CRS) by his ⁄ her unique civil person registration number bacterial agents resistant to antibiotics), all hospital admissions (CPR number). The CPR number identifies each individual, and were included in the study. through Statistics Denmark, it can be linked to several socio- Length of stay in hospital was calculated as the mean num- demographic and health related registries. We used informa- ber of hospital days per individual per year during the period tion from the Danish Demographic Database and the Danish 1977 through 2004. The information on length of stay in hos- National Patient Registry. Since 1977, when the register was pital was grouped according to the age at death and age at established, every hospital admission and length of stay in hospitalization for each individual. If the period of stay in hos- hospital has been recorded and linked to each individual CPR pital included the turn of the year, the number of hospital number.
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