{
  "abstract": "The number of centenarians in the UK in 1951 was counted at 271. Since then, the number has increased exponentially, with a doubling time of about 12 years; it was estimated at 16 640 in 2024. Different environmental factors will have contributed to this striking increase, but the extent to which each has done so is not known. They include improvements in healthcare, including pharmacological therapies, dietary interventions, and increased participation in forms of exercise, and reduced atmospheric pollution, beginning with the Clean Air Acts of the 1960s. Increased rates of obesity may have militated against the trend, but better treatments may start to reverse that. The association of some genes with certain preventable or treatable diseases, and even the possibility that some genes may be independently associated with longevity, suggests another strategy—that of choosing one’s parents carefully.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Jeffrey K Aronson"
    }
  ],
  "title": "When I use a word . . . Centenarians",
  "uid": "d0345f69-9543-5888-a80f-0369c5fdebf2"
}