---
_id: '4292'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Ageing, or senescence, is a decline in state at later ages that is manifested
    through a reduction in survival and fecundity. Ageing means that reproductive
    prospects and hence the life history options (trade-offs) open to the organism
    decline. Evolutionary theories of ageing suggest that it evolves in response to
    the level of externally imposed mortality and insults to fertility, either as
    part of life history optimization or as a result of mutation pressure. Several
    recent empirical and theoretical studies have produced apparently anomalous results.
    Some have suggested that the rate of ageing can decline at later ages, others
    that demographic evidence for ageing can appear in parallel with an improvement
    in state. All of these studies used measures of ageing that would not be expected
    to give an accurate reflection of changes in the state of the organism with age.
    We propose that Fisher's `reproductive value' is a natural measure of state at
    each age, which includes prospects for both survival and reproduction. If this
    measure is used, the apparently anomalous findings are not at variance with evolutionary
    theories of ageing.
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Linda
  full_name: Partridge, Linda
  last_name: Partridge
- first_name: Nicholas H
  full_name: Barton, Nicholas H
  id: 4880FE40-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Barton
  orcid: 0000-0002-8548-5240
citation:
  ama: Partridge L, Barton NH. On measuring the rate of ageing. <i>Proceedings of
    the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>. 1996;263(1375):1365-1371.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200">10.1098/rspb.1996.0200</a>
  apa: Partridge, L., &#38; Barton, N. H. (1996). On measuring the rate of ageing.
    <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>.
    Royal Society of London. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200">https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200</a>
  chicago: Partridge, Linda, and Nicholas H Barton. “On Measuring the Rate of Ageing.”
    <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>.
    Royal Society of London, 1996. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200">https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200</a>.
  ieee: L. Partridge and N. H. Barton, “On measuring the rate of ageing,” <i>Proceedings
    of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>, vol. 263, no.
    1375. Royal Society of London, pp. 1365–1371, 1996.
  ista: Partridge L, Barton NH. 1996. On measuring the rate of ageing. Proceedings
    of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. 263(1375), 1365–1371.
  mla: Partridge, Linda, and Nicholas H. Barton. “On Measuring the Rate of Ageing.”
    <i>Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences</i>,
    vol. 263, no. 1375, Royal Society of London, 1996, pp. 1365–71, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200">10.1098/rspb.1996.0200</a>.
  short: L. Partridge, N.H. Barton, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series
    B Biological Sciences 263 (1996) 1365–1371.
date_created: 2018-12-11T12:08:05Z
date_published: 1996-10-22T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2022-07-04T12:59:56Z
day: '22'
doi: 10.1098/rspb.1996.0200
extern: '1'
intvolume: '       263'
issue: '1375'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rspb.1996.0200
month: '10'
oa_version: None
page: 1365 - 1371
publication: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 0950-1193
publication_status: published
publisher: Royal Society of London
publist_id: '1786'
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: On measuring the rate of ageing
type: journal_article
user_id: ea97e931-d5af-11eb-85d4-e6957dddbf17
volume: 263
year: '1996'
...