Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Abstract

Over the past century, the life expectancy in industrialized countries has rapidly risen by over 30 years due to improvements in standards of medical care, sanitation, and lifestyle. Estimation of life expectancy has traditionally been viewed through a lens of epidemiology and public health. However, this data, while considered the "gold standard" of measuring healthy life expectancy, may soon find itself redundant in the face of advancing medical technology. Even as average life expectancy has increased, there has not been an equivalent increase in healthy life expectancy, or "healthspan"; furthermore, there is a current trend of stagnation in life expectancy, as the supposed increases are estimated to be drastically slowing down, in part due to exhaustion of our current ability to extend the human lifespan. In this viewpoint, we will examine the developing fields of medicine and life sciences which will reshape our current approach to life expectancy prediction.

m<sup>6</sup>A methylation in cellular senescence of age-associated diseases

“…With the continuous development of medical technology, the average life span has been significantly extended [1] , and the world’s aging population is increasing [2] . Epidemiological studies indicate that approximately 11% of the world’s population is over 60 years of age, and this proportion is estimated to exceed 20% by the middle of the 21st century.…”