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An ecological study was conducted using anonymized microdata from the 2018 National Population and Housing Census (CNPV). Geographic analysis, choropleth maps, and Kernel density estimation were employed to identify clusters of individuals aged over 95 years. The study identified 43,427 individuals aged 95 years or older in Colombia, with concentrations observed in departments such as Antioquia and Bogotá. Analysis by department and municipality revealed variations in rates and sex distribution. Kernel density analysis highlighted clusters in the Valle de Tenza area and other regions. This study sheds light on the geographical distribution of centenarians in Colombia, emphasizing clusters in certain regions. More research is needed to understand the individual and contextual factors underlying successful aging in Colombia and to inform policies to improve the quality of life of older populations.

An ecological study was conducted using anonymized microdata from the 2018 National Population and Housing Census (CNPV). Geographic analysis, choropleth maps, and Kernel density estimation were employed to identify clusters of individuals aged over 95 years. The study identified 43,427 individuals aged 95 years or older in Colombia, with concentrations observed in departments such as Antioquia and Bogotá. Analysis by department and municipality revealed variations in rates and sex distribution. Kernel density analysis highlighted clusters in the Valle de Tenza area and other regions. This study sheds light on the geographical distribution of centenarians in Colombia, emphasizing clusters in certain regions. More research is needed to understand the individual and contextual factors underlying successful aging in Colombia and to inform policies to improve the quality of life of older populations.

Supercentenarians, people who have reached 110 y of age, are a great model of healthy aging. Their characteristics of delayed onset of age-related diseases and compression of morbidity imply that their immune system remains functional. Here we performed single-cell transcriptome analysis of 61,202 peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), derived from 7 supercentenarians and 5 younger controls. We identified a marked increase of cytotoxic CD4 T cells (CD4 cytotoxic T lymphocytes [CTLs]) as a signature of supercentenarians. Furthermore, single-cell T cell receptor sequencing of 2 supercentenarians revealed that CD4 CTLs had accumulated through massive clonal expansion, with the most frequent clonotypes accounting for 15 to 35% of the entire CD4 T cell population. The CD4 CTLs exhibited substantial heterogeneity in their degree of cytotoxicity as well as a nearly identical transcriptome to that of CD8 CTLs. This indicates that CD4 CTLs utilize the transcriptional program of the CD8 lineage while retaining CD4 expression. Indeed, CD4 CTLs extracted from supercentenarians produced IFN-γ and TNF-α upon ex vivo stimulation. Our study reveals that supercentenarians have unique characteristics in their circulating lymphocytes, which may represent an essential adaptation to achieve exceptional longevity by sustaining immune responses to infections and diseases.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the investigation of very old individuals. However, various challenges arise when collecting data from this age group. Given potential health and cognitive impairments and the difficulty of retrieving accurate self-reported data, involving individuals knowledgeable of the target person as proxy respondents are an invaluable solution. The primary goal of this study is to explore the association between proxy-centenarian relationship and item nonresponse, a pivotal data quality measure. We noted differences between centenarians participating themselves in interviews and those represented by proxies, observing higher proportions of men and private home residents in the self-report group. There was a low prevalence of item nonresponse among proxy respondents. Proxy type significantly impacted item nonresponse, particularly with non-relatives showing notably higher unanswered question rates. A robust association between non-relatives as proxies and increased item nonresponse persisted even when controlling for potential confounding factors. This study enhances the understanding of data quality, particularly item nonresponse, and highlights the impact of the proxy-centenarian relationship when studying the oldest-old. The findings stress the importance of carefully choosing proxy respondents, preferably children, to improve data quality and inclusivity for those individuals hard to reach or to interview. Future research should investigate various data quality indicators and rely on larger samples to enhance the representation and methodological rigour in the study of the oldest-old.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the investigation of very old individuals. However, various challenges arise when collecting data from this age group. Given potential health and cognitive impairments and the difficulty of retrieving accurate self-reported data, involving individuals knowledgeable of the target person as proxy respondents are an invaluable solution. The primary goal of this study is to explore the association between proxy-centenarian relationship and item nonresponse, a pivotal data quality measure. We noted differences between centenarians participating themselves in interviews and those represented by proxies, observing higher proportions of men and private home residents in the self-report group. There was a low prevalence of item nonresponse among proxy respondents. Proxy type significantly impacted item nonresponse, particularly with non-relatives showing notably higher unanswered question rates. A robust association between non-relatives as proxies and increased item nonresponse persisted even when controlling for potential confounding factors. This study enhances the understanding of data quality, particularly item nonresponse, and highlights the impact of the proxy-centenarian relationship when studying the oldest-old. The findings stress the importance of carefully choosing proxy respondents, preferably children, to improve data quality and inclusivity for those individuals hard to reach or to interview. Future research should investigate various data quality indicators and rely on larger samples to enhance the representation and methodological rigour in the study of the oldest-old.

Deaths at very advanced ages have increased considerably in the last two decades. The exact number of such deaths documented in the International Database on Longevity IDL is established only after a strict age validation process. The vast majority of people who attain these exceptional ages are women. Supercentenarians (aged 110 or above) are over-represented in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

While many diseases of aging have been linked to the immunological system, immune metrics capable of identifying the most at-risk individuals are lacking. From the blood immunome of 1,001 individuals aged 8-96 years, we developed a deep-learning method based on patterns of systemic age-related inflammation. The resulting inflammatory clock of aging (iAge) tracked with multimorbidity, immunosenescence, frailty and cardiovascular aging, and is also associated with exceptional longevity in centenarians. The strongest contributor to iAge was the chemokine CXCL9, which was involved in cardiac aging, adverse cardiac remodeling and poor vascular function. Furthermore, aging endothelial cells in human and mice show loss of function, cellular senescence and hallmark phenotypes of arterial stiffness, all of which are reversed by silencing CXCL9. In conclusion, we identify a key role of CXCL9 in age-related chronic inflammation and derive a metric for multimorbidity that can be utilized for the early detection of age-related clinical phenotypes.

Abstract Centenarian studies have come of age. With the first comprehensive centenarian studies conducted more than 35 years ago, there are now centenarian databases in the United States, in Europe, and in Asian countries. The major focus of these studies has been on genetic and family longevity factors, on support systems, personality, and on health behaviors. Another emphasis has been on various health components, such as physical health, mental health, frailty, and psychological well-being. In recent years, a second generation of centenarian studies has been initiated, comparing earlier born cohorts with later born cohorts. Among the first studies conducting a cohort comparison, the Danish centenarian studies, the Georgia centenarian studies, and the Tokyo centenarian studies showed inconsistent results. Whereas some studies indicated that later born cohorts enjoyed higher levels of functioning (e.g., Denmark, U.S. Georgia), other studies showed poorer performance (e.g., Japan). The current symposium sheds additional light on cohort comparisons with recently collected data from the second Hong Kong Centenarian Study, the Kyotango centenarian cohort, and the Health and Retirement Study. This presentation summarizes major findings from centenarian studies conducted around the world and highlights activities of the International Consortium of Centenarian Studies (ICC).

The immune system is the most important protective physiological system of the organism. It has many connections with other systems and is, in fact, often considered as part of the larger neuro-endocrine-immune axis. Most experimental data on immune changes with aging show a decline in many immune parameters when compared to young healthy subjects. The bulk of these changes is termed immunosenescence. Immunosenescence has been considered for some time as detrimental because it often leads to subclinical accumulation of pro-inflammatory factors and inflamm-aging. Together, immunosenescence and inflamm-aging are suggested to stand at the origin of most of the diseases of the elderly, such as infections, cancer, autoimmune disorders, and chronic inflammatory diseases. However, an increasing number of immune-gerontologists have challenged this negative interpretation of immunosenescence with respect to its significance in aging-related alterations of the immune system. If one considers these changes from an evolutionary perspective, they can be viewed preferably as adaptive or remodeling rather than solely detrimental. Whereas it is conceivable that global immune changes may lead to various diseases, it is also obvious that these changes may be needed for extended survival/longevity. Recent cumulative data suggest that, without the existence of the immunosenescence/inflamm-aging duo (representing two sides of the same phenomenon), human longevity would be greatly shortened. This review summarizes recent data on the dynamic reassessment of immune changes with aging. Accordingly, attempts to intervene on the aging immune system by targeting its rejuvenation, it may be more suitable to aim to maintain general homeostasis and function by appropriately improving immune-inflammatory-functions.

A study in humans indicates that certain bile acids that are produced by bacteria and commonly found in people over 100 boost gut health and protect against infection. These findings shed light on the contributors to healthy ageing.