Middle-aged mothers live longer

Thomas T. Perls, Laura Alpert and Ruth C. Fretts
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Thomas T. Perls: Department of Medicine
Laura Alpert: Department of Medicine
Ruth C. Fretts: Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Nature, 1997, vol. 389, issue 6647, 133-133

Abstract: Abstract Comparing two groups of women born in 1896, we found that women who lived to at least age 100 were four times more likely to have had children while in their forties than women who survived only to age 73. The ability to have children in the fifth decade may be a marker for slow ageing and subsequent ability to achieve extreme longevity. We propose that the evolutionary pressure to extend lifespan is closely linked to prolonging the period of time during which women can bear children.

Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:389:y:1997:i:6647:d:10.1038_38148

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DOI: 10.1038/38148

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