Explaining mortality rate plateaus
| Title | Explaining mortality rate plateaus |
| Publication Type | Journal Article |
| Year of Publication | 2001 |
| Authors | Weitz, JS, Fraser HB |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 98 |
| Issue | 26 |
| Pagination | 15383-15386 |
| Date Published | DEC 18 |
| Abstract | We propose a stochastic model of aging to explain deviations from exponential growth in mortality rates commonly observed in empirical studies. Mortality rate plateaus are explained as a generic consequence of considering death in terms of first passage times for processes undergoing a random walk with drift. Simulations of populations with age-dependent distributions of viabilities agree with a wide array of experimental results. The influence of cohort size is well accounted for by the stochastic nature of the model.
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| External URL | http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/98/26/15383 |
