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Open Access 01-11-2012 | Research article

Centenarians and supercentenarians: a black swan. Emerging social, medical and surgical problems

Authors: Marco Vacante, Velia D’Agata, Massimo Motta, Giulia Malaguarnera, Antonio Biondi, Francesco Basile, Michele Malaguarnera, Caterina Gagliano, Filippo Drago, Salvatore Salamone

Published in: BMC Surgery | Special Issue 1/2012

Abstract

The Black Swan Theory was described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book “The Black Swan”. This theory refers to “high-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare events beyond the realm of normal expectations”. According to Taleb’s criteria, a Black Swan Event is a surprise, it has a major impact and after the fact, the event is rationalized by hindsight, as if it had been expected. For most of human history centenarians were a rare and unpredictable phenomenon. The improvements of the social-environmental conditions, of medical care, and the quality of life caused a general improvement of the health status of the population and a consequent reduction of the overall morbidity and mortality, resulting in an overall increase of life expectancy. The study of centenarians and supercentenarians had the objective to consider this black swan and to evaluate the health, welfare, social and economic consequences of this phenomenon.

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Title: Centenarians and supercentenarians: a black swan. Emerging social, medical and surgical problems
Authors: Marco Vacante
Velia D’Agata
Massimo Motta
Giulia Malaguarnera
Antonio Biondi
Francesco Basile
Michele Malaguarnera
Caterina Gagliano
Filippo Drago
Salvatore Salamone
Publication date: 01-11-2012
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Surgery / Issue Special Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2482
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2482-12-S1-S36

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

Centenarians and supercentenarians: a black swan. Emerging social, medical and surgical problems

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2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Springer Medicine

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Morpho-functional gastric pre-and post-operative changes in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallstone related disease

Surgery for a gastric Dieulafoy’s lesion reveals an occult bleeding jejunal diverticulum. A case report

Sutureless jejuno-jejunal anastomosis in gastric cancer patients: a comparison with handsewn procedure in a single institute