Editing Maximum life span (section)

==Definition==
In animal studies, maximum span is often taken to be the [[mean life span]] of the most long-lived 10% of a given [[cohort study|cohort]]. By another definition, however, maximum life span corresponds to the age at which the oldest known member of a [[species]] or experimental group has died. Calculation of the maximum life span in the latter sense depends upon the initial sample size.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Leonid A. |last1=Gavrilov |first2=Natalia S. |last2=Gavrilova | name-list-style = vanc |year=1991 |title=The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach |location=New York |publisher=Harwood Academic |isbn=978-3-7186-4983-9}}{{page needed|date=October 2011}}</ref>

''Maximum life span'' contrasts with ''[[mean life span]] (average life span'', ''[[life expectancy]])'', and ''[[longevity]]''. Mean life span varies with susceptibility to disease, [[accident]], [[suicide]] and [[murder|homicide]], whereas maximum life span is determined by "rate of aging".<ref>{{cite news |first=Jane E. |last=Brody | name-list-style = vanc |date=25 August 2008 |title=Living Longer, in Good Health to the End |work=The New York Times |page=D7 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/health/26brod.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Levy |first1=G |last2=Levin |first2=B |title=An Evolution-Based Model of Causation for Aging-Related Diseases and Intrinsic Mortality: Explanatory Properties and Implications for Healthy Aging. |journal=Frontiers in Public Health |date=2022 |volume=10 |pages=774668 |doi=10.3389/fpubh.2022.774668 |pmid=35252084 |pmc=8894190 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{failed verification|this article is about compression of morbidity, and doesn't support these claims without synthesis|date=October 2011}} Longevity refers only to the characteristics of the especially long lived members of a population, such as infirmities as they age or ''[[compression of morbidity]]'', and not the specific life span of an individual.{{cn|date=November 2024}}