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Lifespan and Healthspan: Past, Present, and Promise
Crimmins EM.. The Gerontologist, 2015-11-10
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
The past century was a period of increasing life expectancy throughout the age range. This resulted in more people living to old age and to spending more years at the older ages. It is likely that increases in life expectancy at older ages will continue, but life expectancy at birth is unlikely to reach levels above 95 unless there is a fundamental change in our ability to delay the aging process. We have yet to experience much compression of morbidity as the age of onset of most health problems has not increased markedly. In recent decades, there have been some reductions in the prevalence of physical disability and dementia. At the same time, the prevalence of disease has increased markedly, in large part due to treatment which extends life for those with disease. Compressing morbidity or increasing the relative healthspan will require "delaying aging" or delaying the physiological change that results in disease and disability. While moving to life expectancies above age 95 and compressing morbidity substantially may require significant scientific breakthroughs; significant improvement in health and increases in life expectancy in the United States could be achieved with behavioral, life style, and policy changes that reduce socioeconomic disparities and allow us to reach the levels of health and life expectancy achieved in peer societies.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Crimmins, E. M. (2015). Lifespan and Healthspan: Past, Present, and Promise. The Gerontologist. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnv130
Vancouver
Crimmins EM. Lifespan and Healthspan: Past, Present, and Promise. The Gerontologist. 2015. doi:10.1093/geront/gnv130. PMID: 26561272.
BibTeX
@article{crimmins2015-26561272,
author = {Crimmins, E. M.},
title = {{Lifespan and Healthspan: Past, Present, and Promise}},
journal = {The Gerontologist},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1093/geront/gnv130},
pmid = {26561272},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnv130}
}
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Key findings
- Compressing morbidity or increasing the relative healthspan will require "delaying aging" or delaying the physiological change that results in disease and disability.
- While moving to life expectancies above age 95 and compressing morbidity substantially may require significant scientific breakthroughs; significant improvement in health and increases in life expectancy in the United States could be achieved with behavioral, life style, and policy changes that reduce socioeconomic disparities and allow us to reach the levels of health and life expectancy achieved in peer societies.
Why it matters
This paper notes that recent decades have seen some reductions in dementia prevalence, but that substantially compressing illness would likely require delaying the aging process itself. It describes population trends and does not test any treatment or cure.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 50/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Gerontologist) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | The Gerontologist: journal h-index 238 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 761 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 58.5 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 6 / 6 | Cited 41.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 314 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Eileen M. Crimmins: h-index 91 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of Southern California: institution h-index 1,521 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26561272) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 50 / 100 | — |
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