Rate of aging, rate of dying and non-Gompertzian mortality - encore...

That the steep increase of mean life expectancy in the developed countries during the first decades of this century has now come to a halt is neither news nor reason for panic. Mean life span cannot exceed the apparent biological limit for the human species, a maximum life span LSmax of 100-110 years, that has remained unchanged across time, races and civilizations; it will moreover remain about 20% less than LSmax even if major diseases were to be eliminated due to the inherent individual differences - only a few individuals are endowed with a genetic-physiologic profile that allows them to reach LSmax. Some concepts on the relation of rates of aging and dying and the mechanism of mortality are here pertinent and are amplified. Finally, though the author has extensively criticized the general applicability of the Gompertz 'law of mortality', he has some reservations concerning the recently expressed view that the course of the rate of increase of force of mortality with age may be different in men and women, chiefly slowing down versus continuously increasing; this conclusion may well be an artifact of the analysis.