A mathematical model of the physiological dynamics of aging and correlated mortality selection. I. Theoretical development and critiques.

A number of theoretical models of aging and human mortality have been proposed. Only a few of these theoretical models, however, have been translated into statistical procedures and applied to data. In this paper we outline a theoretical model of human aging and mortality and compare it with models developed by Sacher and Trucco and Forbes and Brown. The ways in which this new model can be viewed as a generalization of these other formulations are discussed as are ways in which this model can be translated into a statistical model for empirical application.