People who live to 100 appear to all share one 'superhuman' trait, scientists find
Two new studies have indicated the prevalence of a particular 'superhuman' ability in individuals who manage to live to 100 years old.
But what could this specific superpower actually be?
Conducted by scientists in Sweden, joint studies both invited older adults to be tested, during which their health records were analysed.
Some of the group had reached the age of 100, while some died at an earlier age.
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Both the timing and nature of diagnoses were also assessed in the cases of a wide range of conditions - varying from strokes and cardiac arrests, to cancer and neurological diseases.
The first study included the health records of 170,787 people born in Stockholm County between 1912 and 1922, and saw participants tracked for 40 years - from either 60 years old until death, or until they turned 100.
It was found that centenarians (people who survive until the age of 100) have a bizarre means of avoiding major illnesses.
Apparently, it's true - these individuals as a whole were found to have either been diagnosed with considerably fewer diseases, or have accumulated these diseases more slowly than younger participants.
A huge proportion of these older people were also found to have avoided a vast number age-related conditions altogether, despite having been around for much longer than their younger pals.
Centenarians not only boasted a lower rate of late-midlife diseases, but they maintained this average throughout - for example, only four percent of individuals aged 85 who went on to live to 100, experienced a stroke. In people who died between 90 and 99, the figure was much greater at 10 percent.
Another example is that, by the age of 100, only 12.5 percent of individuals assessed had ever experienced a heart attack - a figure that was at a huge greater 24 percent in people who died in their 80s.
Scientists have suggested in the published work, therefore, that an exceptionally long life is linked to a pattern of ageing whereby illnesses are delayed or dodged as a whole.
Most notably, however, is that these findings directly refute previous beliefs that longer life must inevitably come hand in hand with later years riddled with poor health.
Whilst the first study focussed on major illnesses, the second expanded its focus to include more minor medical issues and slower-progressing conditions, assessing 40 of these in particular, including hypertension, heart failure and diabetes.
The records of 274,108 people born between 1920 and 1922 were assessed and followed for 30 years - either from 70 until death, or until they reached 100 years of age.
Only 1.5 percent of participants survived until the age of 100, with the findings matching those uncovered in the first study - that centenarians developed fewer ailments overall.
Rhianna Benson