Living Past 90 Doesn't Mean Disease, Disability
August 8, 2016
Living Past 90 Doesn't Mean Disease, Disability
By Karen Pallarito
Study suggests life can be long and healthy, although good genes help a lot.
What if you could live well into your 90s and still be in good health?
A new study suggests that may be possible, particularly if you have good genes.
"Chronic disease is not an inevitable part of aging," said Dr. Sofiya Milman, an assistant professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. "An extended period of good health can accompany a long life span and is an achievable goal."
Milman is one of the authors of a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded study on aging.
Americans are living longer than ever. In 2014, the average life expectancy at birth had reached nearly 79 years, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. A century earlier, it was just slightly over 54 years.
But gains in "health span -- the period of time that people live in good health -- have not kept pace with longevity, the study authors noted. Rather, longer life expectancy has been associated with greater disability.