Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 30;19(3):1589.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19031589.

Extreme Longevity: Analysis of the Direct or Indirect Influence of Environmental Factors on Old, Nonagenarians, and Centenarians in Cilento, Italy

Silvana Mirella Aliberti  1 , Francesco De Caro  1 , Richard H W Funk  2 , Luigi Schiavo  1 , Joseph Gonnella  3 , Giovanni Boccia  1 , Mario Capunzo  1
Affiliations

Extreme Longevity: Analysis of the Direct or Indirect Influence of Environmental Factors on Old, Nonagenarians, and Centenarians in Cilento, Italy

Silvana Mirella Aliberti et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Longevity is rightly considered one of the greatest achievements of modern society, an achievement understood as the possibility of increasing the healthy part of life and not only its full duration. This study investigated the phenomenon of regional longevity in Cilento by analyzing the association between longevity indicators and some environmental factors, in order to understand if factors such as altitude, climate, UNESCO protected areas, and hinterland can directly or indirectly influence the measure of healthy living and lead to longevity. Demographic and environmental data were collected through the Archives of the Cilento municipalities, the National Institute of Statistics, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, and the Italian National Commission for UNESCO. The Geographically Weighted Regression were used to determine the association between longevity indicators and environmental factors. Correlation analysis between the longevity indicators was investigated in order to have a complete picture of longevity in Cilento. It was discovered that Cilento longevity is mainly found in the central area of the territory and from there, by age groups, it widens towards the south-eastern area. This designated area is part of the hilly area of the Cilento, at an altitude between 400 and 700 m above sea level. The towns of this area are part of the UNESCO heritage and are characterized by a transitional climate between Mediterranean and temperate climate. Moreover, the correlation analysis between the six indicators of longevity has confirmed a linear relationship between the six variables and this indicates that in the years to come there will be the probabilities of a generational turn over between the old, great old, nonagenarians and current centenarians, provided that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic subsides.

Keywords: centenarians; cilento region; environmental factors; healthy living; longevity; old population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Maps for locating the study site. Notes: (a). Italy with the location of the region Campania; (b). the location of Cilento in the region Campania 1 (c). the territorial area of Cilento with the location of the 102 municipalities.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Maps for locating the study site. Notes: (a). Italy with the location of the region Campania; (b). the location of Cilento in the region Campania 1 (c). the territorial area of Cilento with the location of the 102 municipalities.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Spatial distribution of the six longevity indicators in Cilento. Note: (a) Spatial distribution of Centenarian ratio; (b) Spatial distribution of Aging tendency; (c) Spatial distribution of 85+ ratio; (d) Spatial distribution of 90+ ratio; (e) Spatial distribution of Longevity index; (f) Spatial distribution of Centenarity index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Local spatial distribution (Anselin local Moran’s I) maps of the cluster/outlier type for longevity indicators in Cilento municipalities. Note: (a) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Centenarian ratio; (b) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Aging tendency; (c) maps of the cluster/outlier type for 85+ ratio; (d) maps of the cluster/outlier type for 90+ ratio; (e) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Longevity index; (f) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Centenarity index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Local spatial distribution (Anselin local Moran’s I) maps of the cluster/outlier type for longevity indicators in Cilento municipalities. Note: (a) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Centenarian ratio; (b) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Aging tendency; (c) maps of the cluster/outlier type for 85+ ratio; (d) maps of the cluster/outlier type for 90+ ratio; (e) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Longevity index; (f) maps of the cluster/outlier type for Centenarity index.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Spatial distribution in Cilento of altitude, climate, UNESCO heritage area, coastal/non-coastal areas. Note: (a) Altitude distributions of plains, hills, and mountains in Cilento; (b) Localization of Mediterranean, transitional, and temperate climate in Cilento; (c) Evidence of UNESCO heritage area and buffer zone; (d) Division between coastal and non-coastal areas in Cilento.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of the GWR models for Aging tendency, 85+ ratio, 90+ ratio and Longevity index showing the local R2. Note: (a) local R2 for Aging tendency; (b) local R2 for 85+ ratio; (c) local R2 for 90+ ratio; (d) local R2 for Longevity index.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Results of the GWR models for Aging tendency, 85+ ratio, 90+ ratio and Longevity index showing the local R2. Note: (a) local R2 for Aging tendency; (b) local R2 for 85+ ratio; (c) local R2 for 90+ ratio; (d) local R2 for Longevity index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. WPP, World Population Prospects, United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. 2019. [(accessed on 15 October 2021)]. Available online: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Probabilistic/Population/
    1. Aliberti S.M., De Caro F., Boccia G., Capunzo M. Ist die Corona-Krise eine Lehrmeisterin für die Zukunft? Italienische Erfahrungen im Rahmen weltweiter Diskurse. Z. Evidenz Fortbild. Qual. Gesundh. 2020;158–159:16–21. doi: 10.1016/j.zefq.2020.10.011. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aliberti S.M., De Caro F., Boccia G., Caruso R., Capunzo M. Dealing with COVID-19: Lessons Learned from the Italian Experience. Coronaviruses. 2021;2:27–29. doi: 10.2174/2666796701999200908094136. - DOI
    1. Marcon G., Tettamanti M., Capacci G., Fontanel G., Spanò M., Nobili A., Forloni G., Franceschi C. COVID-19 mortality in Lombardy: The vulnerability of the oldest old and the resilience of male centenarians. Aging. 2020;12:15186–15195. doi: 10.18632/aging.103872. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kordowitzki P. Centenarians and COVID-19: Is There a Link between Longevity and Better Immune Defense? Gerontology. 2021;10:1–2. doi: 10.1159/000518905. - DOI - PMC - PubMed