Hans Lundström

The era of centenarians : mortality of the oldest old in Sweden

Dear Sir, Demographic evidence has shown that life-expectancyhasbeen improving formore than160 years [1, 2]. This remarkable trend was first fuelled by reductions in infant andchildmortality; however, since the 1950smostof thereductionhasbeenbecauseofadecrease inmortality in the elderly. The annual decline inmortality at older ages is continuing inmanycountries, including Sweden [3]. According to the Human Mortality Database, Swedish life-expectancy at the age of 80 years increased by 1.84 years for men and 2.78 years for women between 1969 and 2009 [4]. The number of Swedish centenarians has risen almost exponentially in recent years,mainlybecauseof thedecrease inmortality below the age of 100 [5]. The increase in mortality has been accompanied by a steady and almost linear increase in the maximum ageatdeath [6].