[NYTr] Cuba's 100-Year-Old Population Grows
 
Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2007 17:23:44 -0500 (CDT)

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Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
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Cuba's 100-Year-Old Population Grows

Havana, Oct 5 (acn) A study on longevity carried out by a group of 
gerontology experts has showed that close to 2,500 Cubans are at least 
100 years old.

According to the main specialist on geriatrics and gerontology with the 
National Department for the Elderly of the Cuban Ministry of Public 
Health, Dr. Alberto Fernandez Seco, the study was aimed at explaining 
the factors that have a bearing on longevity and to identify the oldest 
people in Cuba.

Prior to the general results, Fernandez Seco commented that genetics, 
sex, and emotional factors, besides an easy adjustment to changes, and 
healthy habits are among the factors contributing to longer living.

Seco bases his views on the results of a survey carried out in the 
Cuban capital with 270 centenarians, reports Granma newspaper.

The survey revealed that the parents of more than 55% of those polled 
lived 80 years or more. Longevity is thus thought to be based on a 
theory that suggests that children of people living long lives, known 
as "genetic filters", develop fewer diseases and therefore live longer.

Out of the 270 people interviewed, 210 were women. Dr. Katy Hind 
Selman-Houssein, a member of the research team, said this preponderance 
of women could be related to the presence of estrogens and the decrease 
of iron due to menstruation.

In another aspect of the phenomenon, the study proved that disabilities 
closely linked to depression decrease in centenarians who live with 
their families and are emotionally balanced.

The research also found that most people living to be a hundred began 
to work early in their lives and continued to do so until they were of 
advanced years; had an adequate acceptance of changes derived from 
aging; refused to lie-down or sit for long periods of time, and were 
prudent in the consumption of medicines.
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