Mapping Extreme Longevity Areas in Italy

Francesco Scalone, Università di Bologna
Alessandra Samoggia , Università di Bologna
Anna Capponcelli, University of Bologna

Human longevity could be investigated by studying the centenarian population in order to offer the opportunity to investigate which factors contribute the most to successful aging in populations. Previous studies showed the existence of extreme longevity areas in Sardinia. This area is the so-called ‘Blue Zone’, where longevity is concentrated in the central-eastern part of the island and covers all the mountainous areas of central Sardinia. Do other ‘Blue Zones’ exist in Italy? In this paper, we will study the longevity phenomenon in Italy by mapping cohort longevity indexes at the municipality level. We will use data based on distributions by sex and age. These indicators will be preliminary spatially smoothed by using a Bayesian approach in order to reduce random noise due to small numbers. We aim to assess systematically the existence of other extreme longevity areas outside the Sardinian borders.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality