London, June 23 (IANS): While women are four times more likely than men to reach the age of 100 years, males tend to be healthier and have fewer diagnosed chronic illnesses compared to women, a research says.

The number of females reaching the age of 100 years between 1990 and 2013 went up by 50 percent, the results said.

The researchers also found that there was also a 30 percent increase in the number of males reaching 100 during the same period.

"We found a surprising number of 100 year-olds who had no major illnesses. However, as the number of people living to 100 continues to increase, it is very important to understand the evolving health care needs of the oldest old," said lead author of the study Nisha Hazra from King's College London.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, used electronic health records to examine some of the main age-related chronic illnesses, including diabetes, stroke, arthritis and cancer, as well as old age-related problems, including falls, fractures, dementia and hearing/visual impairments, among 11,084 centenarians.

Whilst far less men reached the age of 100, those that did tended to be healthier, with females more likely to experience multiple chronic illnesses and disabilities such as fractures, incontinence and hearing/visual deterioration than men.

Less life-threatening conditions such as arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases were also shown to be more prevalent than more serious illnesses such as diabetes and cancer across both men and women in the sample.