Continuing the search for a law of mortality
Continuing the search for a law of mortality
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DOI：
10.2307/2137434
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发表时间：
1996-06-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Grahn, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Carnes, BA;Olshansky, SJ;Grahn, D
长期以来，科学家们一直试图解释为什么人类和非人类人口的死亡年龄模式非常相似。从这些模式中找出适用于所有物种的普遍“死亡定律”的历史努力在1935年结束，当时宣布这种定律不存在。这些早期的努力是使用基于所有死亡原因的死亡率曲线进行的。作者预测，如果死亡率的比较是基于死亡的“内在"原因（即，死亡反映了生物体的基本生物学），那么死亡率的年龄模式与法律的历史概念相一致可能会被揭示。利用实验室动物和人类的数据，他们证明了内在死亡率的年龄模式在生物学可比的时间尺度上重叠。这些结果与Benjamin Gompertz和Raymond Pearl最初断言的性成熟后死亡率规律的存在是一致的。社会，医学和研究的影响，这样的法律进行了讨论。
Scientists have long attempted to explain why closely similar age patterns of death are characteristic of highly diverse human and nonhuman populations. Historical efforts to identify a general ''law of mortality'' from these patterns that applied across species ended in 1935 when it was declared that such a law did not exist. These early efforts were conducted using mortality curves based on all causes of death. The authors predict that if comparisons of mortality are based instead on ''intrinsic'' causes of death (i.e., deaths that reflect the basic biology of the organism), then age patterns of mortality consistent with the historical concept of a law might be revealed. Using data on laboratory animals and humans, they demonstrate that age patterns of intrinsic mortality overlap when graphed on a biologically comparable time scale. These results are consistent with the existence of a law of mortality following sexual maturity, as originally asserted by Benjamin Gompertz and Raymond Pearl. The societal, medical, and research implications of such a law are discussed.