@article{75c432b15ec6499680a0d904eaae06b6,
title = "Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans",
abstract = "An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.",
keywords = "leukocytes, life-expectancy, longevity, maximal lifespan, sex, Journal Article, Sex, Leukocytes, Longevity, Life-expectancy, Maximal lifespan",
author = "Troels Steenstrup and Kark, {Jeremy D} and Simon Verhulst and Mikael Thinggaard and Hjelmborg, {Jacob V B} and Christine Dalg{\aa}rd and Kyvik, {Kirsten Ohm} and Lene Christiansen and Massimo Mangino and Spector, {Timothy D} and Inge Petersen and Masayuki Kimura and Athanase Benetos and Carlos Labat and Ronit Sinnreich and Shih-Jen Hwang and Daniel Levy and Hunt, {Steven C} and Fitzpatrick, {Annette L} and Wei Chen and Berenson, {Gerald S} and Michelangela Barbieri and Giuseppe Paolisso and Gadalla, {Shahinaz M} and Savage, {Sharon A} and Kaare Christensen and Yashin, {Anatoliy I} and Arbeev, {Konstantin G} and Abraham Aviv",
year = "2017",
doi = "10.18632/aging.101216",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "1130--1142",
journal = "Aging",
issn = "1945-4589",
publisher = "Impact Journals LLC",
number = "4",
}