The oldest person in the world, Gertrude Baines, just died at age 115

In the search for longevity, we tend to focus on healthy lifestyles, miracle supplements, or potential technologies. It’s easy to forget the people who have accomplished that goal seemingly without the intention to do so. Gertrude Baines, the oldest person on Earth, passed away in Los Angeles on Friday September 11, 2009, at the tender age of 115. That, my friends, is old. Her title passes on to Kama Chinen in Japan, age 114, and still going strong. These supercentenarians give us hope that the dream of living longer (maybe forever) is a possible one.

There are ‘Blue Zones‘ on Earth were people live longer, and those populations seem to have much in common. We see simple lifestyles devoid of unnecessary stress, good diets that focus on fruits and veggies (not meats and sugars), and plenty of daily exercise. Supercentenarians, however, are as much about statistical anomalies as they are about trends. They don’t seem to have a lot in common besides agrarian backgrounds (but we’re talking about the 1890s here) and gender (most are women). Apparently one of Ms. Baines favorite foods was bacon and eggs.

Gertrude Baines was born on April 6, 1894 in Georgia, worked for many years as a maid at Ohio State University, and spent the last ten years of her life in a resident home in LA. She took over the reign of oldest person in January of this year when Maria de Jesus (Portugal) died at age 114. Her successor, Kama Chinen (b. May 10, 1895), is only 7 days older than the next runner up, Canadian born US resident Mary Jospehine Ray.

Of the hundreds of thousands of people in the world who reach one hundred years of age, only 1 in a 1000 will make it to the 110 year mark. Of those, 1-2% will make it past 115. Beyond that, every year is like winning the lottery. Sakhan Dosova of Kazakhstan supposedly lived to be 130. Jeanne Calment of France is well documented to have passed 122. Many of these women, and again a super majority of centenarians and supercentenarians are women, lived relatively simple lives often in meager means. As we discussed in an earlier article, Sakhan Dosova’s death may have been indirectly related to her being moved to better conditions.

The human body, or some human bodies at least, can survive long wear and tear for years past the century mark. There’s plenty of evidence that the average person’s longevity could extend into this region routinely. Already, most developed nations enjoy a centenarian rate of more than 100 per million. The US, France, and Japan all have rates near or above 300 per million. Every nation expects those numbers to rise dramatically in the next century. As we explore longevity here at the Hub, it goods to keep in mind that while we may have to fight aging in our bodies, some bodies are already willing to join in on the battle.

Was This woman Really 130 Years Old?

Last month we wrote about Sakhan Dosova, a woman from Kazakhstan who created a sensation when it was revealed that she might be 130 years old, easily making her the world’s oldest person.  Now, in one of life’s strange twists of irony, Sakhan Dosova has apparently broken her hip and died after a freak fall in her new flat.  With the death of Sakhan Dosova, American woman Gertrude Baines once again takes the reigns as the world’s oldest living person at 115.

Before her recent stardom Dosova apparently lived a simple life, eating simple foods, rarely seeking medical treatment, and avoiding many of the trappings of modern society.  But after Dosova’s age was revealed a few months ago and she became a world sensation all this changed.  The Daily Mail reported that Sakhan Dosova was recently given a new flat by officials in Kazakhstan who were embarrassed that the country’s overnight celebrity was living in overcrowded conditions with her impoverished family.  It sure is ironic to think that Dosova’s death may have been ushered in at least partly by her sudden departure from the simple life that had served her well for so many years.

We may never know Dosova’s true age.  Although she had a valid passport showing that she was born in 1879, this information might have been mistaken or even forged for whatever reason. Even with an autopsy it is surprisingly difficult with current technology to determine the individual’s age.

Regardless of her true age, it is very likely that Dosova was one of those rare individuals to live past the age of 110, often defined as supercentenarians.  According to Wikipedia, only one in a thousand centenarians make it to supercentenarian status, and furthermore only 2% of supercentenarians live to be 115.  Many singularity enthusiasts expect life expectancies to explode in the coming decades as modern science and technology continue to advance.  Will centenarians or even supercentenarians soon move from rarity to commonality?  Only time (literally!) will tell.

So is it really true then?  It may be impossible to tell for certain, but there are some compelling clues.  Sakhan Dosova’s passport states that she was born in 1879 — the year Edison invented the lightbulb and Stalin and Einstein were born.  Demographers were astonished to find that she was also on Stalin’s first census of the region in 1926 when her age was given as 47.  An image (from the Daily Mail) of Dosova’s Kasakh identity card with a birth date of March 27, 1879 is shown below:

Regardless of her exact age, Dosova is almost undoubtedly part of an exclusive club of individuals known as supercentenarians.  According to Wikipedia, these individuals have reached the age of 110 years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians (based on European data). Furthermore, only 2% of supercentenarians live to be 115.  As human health and medicine continue to improve it will be interesting to see what many in the singularity community expect will be an explosion of individuals reaching supercentenarian status.

At the time of one of our earlier stories, Edna Parker was the oldest person in the world at age 115, but she has since passed away in Nov 2008.  A woman named Mariam Amash in Israel claims to be about 120 years old, but similar to the case of Sakhan Dosova, it may be impossible to prove.

Many may question whether it is possible to use medical forensics to verify the age of a person.  According to a Scientific American interview with Jay Olshansky, and expert on the topic, and answer is “no”.  An excerpt below:

Question: Can you scientifically prove someone’s age?

Answer: No, you can’t. Researchers have been looking for biomarkers of age for a long time and have failed. People sell tests out there to measure your biological age and none of them work. There’s no evidence that you can measure biological age with any reliability.

According to RFE/RL, “Dosova lives in a small town of Prishakhtinsk, in central Kazakhstan, has 11 children and 37 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Will Stewart from the Daily Mail has the best reports we have found on this story.  A few choice exerpts below:

While some Kazakh officials are pressing for more detailed checks on her claim, fearing the country could face ridicule if it is shown to be false, she has no doubts and is basking in her new found fame.

‘I don’t have any special secret,’ she said. ‘I’ve never taken pills and if I was ill, I used granny’s remedies to cure me.

‘I have never eaten sweets, I don’t like them. But I love kurt (a salty dried cottage cheese) and talkan (ground wheat).’

The old woman lives in poor conditions in an overcrowded flat with one of her granddaughters, though she is said to be in good health apart from some problems with her hearing.

Some Kazakh bureaucrats want more checks to be done to ascertain the accuracy of her claim, pointing out that birth records in Kazakhstan in the 19th century are notoriously unreliable.

‘We can see that this is turning into a big story and for the sake of our country, we need to be sure her claim is correct,’ said one official.

‘There is no doubt she is very old. But is she really 130? Or was there a white lie long ago which was never corrected? We need to find out.’

The oldest person alive today (that can be verified against reasonable doubt) is Edna Parker, who turned 115 years old in April 2008. An interesting quote from the article:

“She has outlived both of her sons, and is one of 75 human beings in the world who have lived past the age of 110 years.”

Mariam Amash in Israel claims to be the oldest person alive at 120 years, but her age has not been confirmed reliably.

Wikipedia appears to have good information on the records for world’s oldest people. Jeanne Calment, who passed away in 1997, currently holds the record for longest documented lifespan at 122 years.

A supercentenarian is a person who has reached the age of 110 years or more, something achieved by only one in a thousand centenarians (based on European data). Furthermore, only 2% of supercentenarians live to be 115.

Picture from wickedlocal.com