Reaching the age of 100 does not necessarily mean a life fraught with illness. A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that centenarians not only live longer, they also stay healthier than other older people, with fewer diseases that develop more slowly.

The study, published in eClinicalMedicine, compared people who reached the age of 100 with those who died earlier. The results show that centenarians not only suffer from fewer diseases, they also develop them more slowly.

While many older people accumulate several diagnoses quickly during their final years, the disease burden of centenarians seems to level off from around the age of 90. They more often have diseases that are limited to a single organ system and significantly fewer concurrent conditions.

The study also shows that cardiovascular disease is less common and occurs later in life among centenarians. Neuropsychiatric diseases are also less prevalent among those who live the longest.

”Our results challenge the widespread belief that a longer life inevitably means more diseases. We show that centenarians follow a distinct ageing curve, with slower disease progression and greater resistance to common age-related diseases,” says last author Karin Modig, associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.

The study covered the entire Swedish birth cohort between 1920 and 1922, totalling over 270,000 individuals. The researchers followed the participants' health from the age of 70 and up to three decades. The progression of disease in centenarians was compared with those who lived shorter lives using national health registers. The results show that centenarians not only delay disease – they seem to age in a fundamentally different way.

”We show that exceptional longevity is not just about delaying ill health. It reflects a unique pattern of ageing. The results suggest that centenarians have preserved homeostasis and resistance to disease despite ageing and physiological stresses – something that may be due to a favourable combination of genes, lifestyle and environment," says Karin Modig.

The study was funded by Karolinska Institutet. No conflicts of interest have been reported.