Sydney: If people were given a pill to prolong life then they would prefer to spend it with their families, says a new study.

The study, co-authored by Jayne Lucke and Wayne Hallby, associate professors at the University of Queensland (UQ) School of Population Health, interviewed 605 people, aged between 18 and 96 years.

Brad Partridge, now at the Mayo Clinic in the US, conducted the interviews as part of his PhD. They identified their ethical, social and personal beliefs towards pharmaceutical life extension.

Lucke said the research was inspired by studies showing the lifespan of animals can be greatly increased in the lab.
"The participants were given a scenario to consider, which involved taking an anti-ageing pill that increased the maximum human lifespan," Lucke said.

"The pill would not be used to cure diseases, but to delay the onset of related health problems which led to an earlier death."

She said 63 percent of participants said there would be personal benefits to life extension including spending more time with family (36 percent); having more time in life to achieve ambitions (31 percent) and better health and quality of life (21 percent).

"Eighty percent also envisioned at least one downside," she said, according to a UQ release.

"These included prolonging a state of poor health (34 percent); financial cost of living longer (16 percent); and outliving family and friends (12 percent)."

These findings were published in Rejuvenation Research recently. IANS