Aging: Overview
Aging: Overview
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05631.x
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发表时间：
2001-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Harman, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Harman, D
衰老是一个普遍的过程，始于大约 35 亿年前生命的起源。整个细胞和组织因衰老而产生的各种有害变化的积累会逐渐损害功能，并最终导致死亡。衰老变化可归因于发育、遗传缺陷、环境、疾病和先天过程——衰老过程。给定年龄的死亡机会是对该年龄（即生理年龄）的人累积的平均衰老变化数量的衡量，并且该衡量标准的变化率称为衰老率。总体生活条件的改善可降低死亡机会。因此，在过去两千年中，人类的出生时平均预期寿命（ALE-B）（由死亡机会决定）已从古罗马的 30 岁上升到当今发达国家的近 80 岁。发达国家的死亡机会现已接近极限值，ALE-B 正在接近平台值，比潜在的最大值（约 85 年）短 6-9 年。现在，死亡机会很大程度上取决于 28 岁之后固有的衰老过程。瑞典只有 1.1% 的女性群体在此年龄之前死亡；随着年龄的增长，其余的人以指数级的速度死亡。固有的老化过程将 ALE-B 的寿命限制在 85 年左右，最大寿命 (MLS) 限制在 122 年左右。过去增加 ALE-B 的努力并不需要了解衰老。这些知识在未来将是必要的，以显着提高 ALE-B 和 MLS，并令人满意地改善与年龄增长相关的医疗、经济和社会问题。在可行的范围内，应该使用许多先进的解释衰老的理论来帮助解决这些重要的实际问题，包括自由基衰老理论的应用。由于生活方式的变化、老年人比例的增加、生育率的下降以及为老年人提供服务的劳动力规模的减少，过去社会为确保老年人得到充分护理而采取的措施很快变得不够充分。正在采取措施帮助解决这个问题。进一步延长功能寿命和改善老年人生活的前景是光明的。
Aging is a universal process that began with the origination of life about 3.5 billion years ago. Accumulation of the diverse deleterious changes produced by aging throughout the cells and tissues progressively impairs function and can eventually cause death. Aging changes can be attributed to development, genetic defects, the environment, disease, and an inborn process-the aging process. The chance of death at a given age serves as a measure of the average number of aging changes accumulated by persons of that age, that is, of physiologic age, and the rate of change of this measure as the rate of aging. Chances for death are decreased by improvements in general living conditions. As a result, during the past two millennia average life expectancy at birth (ALE-B), determined by the chances for death, of humans has risen from 30 years, in ancient Rome, to almost 80 years today in the developed countries. Chances for death in the developed countries are now near limiting values and ALE-Bs are approaching plateau values that are 6-9 years less than the potential maximum of about 85 years. Chances for death are now largely determined by the inherent aging process after age 28. Only 1.1% of female cohorts in Sweden die before this age; the remainder die off at an exponentially increasing rate with advancing age. The inherent aging process limits ALE-B to around 85 years, and the maximum life span (MLS) to about 122 years. Past efforts to increase ALE-B did not require an understanding of aging. Such knowledge will be necessary in the future to significantly increase ALE-B and MLS, and to satisfactorily ameliorate the medical, economic, and social problems associated with advancing age. The many theories advanced to account for aging should be used, to the extent it is feasible, to help with these important practical problems, including applications of the free radical theory of aging. Past measures evolved by societies to ensure adequate care for older individuals are rapidly becoming inadequate because of changes in life style, the growing percentage of older people, declining fertility rates, and the diminishing size of the work forces to provide for the elderly. Measures are being advanced to help with this problem. Prospects are bright for further increases in the span of functional life and improvements in the lives of the elderly.