Gompertz%26apos; survivorship law as an intrinsic principle of aging

作者：Sas Arthur A; Snieder Harold; Korf Jakob^*

来源：Medical Hypotheses, 2012, 78(5): 659-663.

DOI：10.1016/j.mehy.2012.02.004

We defend the hypothesis that life-spanning population survivorship curves, as described by Gompertz%26apos; law and composed from cross-sectional data (here mortality), reflect an intrinsic aging principle active in each subject of that population. In other words Gompertz%26apos; law reflects aging of a prototypical subject, provided minimal (or no) external causes of death (i.e. fatal infections, starvation, accidents). %26lt;br%26gt;Our approach deviates from the traditional (exponential) Gompertz%26apos; hazard function. For instance, the here formulated Gompertz%26apos; law accurately describes old-age deceleration of both all-cause mortality and the incidence of some ageing-associated cancers, as illustrated for the Dutch population. We consider the possibility that the old-age expression and progression of cancer and other pathologies becomes suppressed, because of random (and exponential) accumulation of damage during life. %26lt;br%26gt;Gompertz%26apos; law may trigger new concepts and models describing life-spanning physiological and pathological processes of aging. We discuss (and reject) various aging models (e.g. a predominant role of individual variations at birth; reliability theory) and point to the explanatory potential of network models and systemic regulatory models.

• 出版日期2012-5