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• Caribbean
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• Havana
• national
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• Health and Medicine
• 05 / 22 / 2009

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Dr. Eugenio Selman, the president of the Medical Association of the Caribbean, told Efe that the new study “was done with every rigor,” with researchers visiting every one of the centenarians and verifying their documents in a process that took more than a year.

He said that, earlier, census data from 2002 had been used that mentioned 2,500 centenarians and that the new study was done with an “accuracy” not available previously.

Selman was for years part of the medical team of former Cuban President Fidel Castro – now 82 – and is the creator of the “120 Year Club.”

The conclusions of the new study will be presented Friday in Havana at the International Congress on Satisfactory Longevity.

Women predominate among Cuban centenarians and the majority of them live in the central province of Villa Clara.

According to World Health Organization data released Thursday in Geneva, life expectancy in Cuba is 78 years, on average, exceeded in the region only by Costa Rica, where the average life expectancy is 79.

(EFE)