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Exceptional longevity does not result in excessive levels of disability

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, September 2008
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (95th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
8 news outlets
blogs
2 blogs
policy
3 policy sources
twitter
4 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

dimensions_citation
209 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
173 Mendeley
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Title
Exceptional longevity does not result in excessive levels of disability
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, September 2008
DOI 10.1073/pnas.0804931105
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kaare Christensen, Matt McGue, Inge Petersen, Bernard Jeune, James W. Vaupel

Abstract

Late-life loss of independence in daily living is a central concern for the aging individual and for society. The implications of increased survival to advanced age may be different at the population level than at the individual level. Here we used a longitudinal multi-assessment survey of the entire Danish 1905 cohort from 1998 to 2005 to assess the loss of physical and cognitive independence in the age range of 92 to 100 years. Multiple functional outcomes were studied, including independence, which was defined as being able to perform basic activities of daily living without assistance from other persons and having a MiniMental State Examination (MMSE) score of 23 or higher. In the aggregate, the 1905 cohort had only a modest decline in the proportion of independent individuals at the 4 assessments between age 92 and 100 years: 39%, 36%, 32%, and 33%, with a difference between first and last assessment of 6% [95% confidence interval (CI), -1-14%]. For participants who survived until 2005, however, the prevalence of independence was reduced by more than a factor of 2, from 70% in 1998 to 33% in 2005 (difference, 37%; 95% CI, 28-46%). Similar results were obtained for the other functional outcomes. Analyses of missing data resulting from nonresponse and death suggest that the discrepancy between the population trajectory and the individual trajectory is caused by increased mortality among dependent individuals. For the individual, long life brings an increasing risk of loss of independence. For society, mortality reductions are not expected to result in exceptional levels of disability in cohorts of the very old.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 173 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 1%
United Kingdom 2 1%
Netherlands 1 <1%
Uruguay 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Spain 1 <1%
Mexico 1 <1%
Unknown 163 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Researcher 39 23%
Student > Ph. D. Student 34 20%
Student > Master 20 12%
Student > Bachelor 14 8%
Professor 12 7%
Other 34 20%
Unknown 20 12%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 39 23%
Social Sciences 26 15%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 11%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 15 9%
Psychology 13 8%
Other 34 20%
Unknown 27 16%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 92. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 November 2021.
All research outputs
#439,700
of 24,625,114 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#7,889
of 101,438 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#800
of 93,743 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#32
of 701 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,625,114 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 101,438 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 38.8. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 93,743 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 701 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.