The vanishing advantage of longevity in Nicoya, Costa Rica: A cohort shif
Fecha
2023
Tipo
artículo original
Autores
Rosero Bixby, Luis
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
BACKGROUND
The Nicoya region in Costa Rica has been identified as one of a handful of hotspots of
extreme longevity. The evidence supporting this status comes mostly from observing the
1990 and 2000 decades and cohorts born before 1930.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how the longevity advantage of older men in Nicoya has progressed in the
period 1990 to 2020 and in cohorts born from 1900 to 1950.
METHODS
Remaining length of life and adult mortality were estimated using new public
administrative records from the electoral system and a Gompertz regression model. A
new nationwide survival-time database of 550,000 adult Costa Ricans who were alive at
any point during 1990–2020 was put together.
RESULTS
The longevity advantage of Nicoya is disappearing in a trend driven mostly by cohort
effects. While Nicoyan males born in 1905 had 33% lower adult mortality rates than other
Costa Ricans, those born in 1945 had 10% higher rates. The original geographic hotspot
of low elderly mortality, coined the Nicoya blue zone, has decreased to a small area south
of the peninsula around the corridor from Hojancha inland to the beach town of Sámara.
However, Nicoyans born before 1930 who are still alive continue to show exceptionally
high longevity.
CONCLUSIONS
Surviving Nicoyan males born before 1930 are exceptional human beings living longer
than expected lives. Not so for more recent cohorts. The window of opportunity to meet
and study pre-1930 individuals is closing.
Descripción
Palabras clave
MORTALITY, ADULTS, LONGEVITY, POPULATION, OLD AGE, SURVIVAL, COSTA RICA