Although women are far more likely to reach 100, centenarian men tend to be healthier and have fewer illnesses, according to a recent study from King's College London.

Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing trend in the number of people in the United Kingdom reaching 100. Although most of these centenarians are women, their counterparts tend to have fewer diagnosed chronic illnesses.

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

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed electronic health records of more than 11,000 centenarians 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.

They found that the women centenarian population saw a 50 percent increase between 1990 and 2013, and were four times more likely to reach age 100 than men. There was also a 30 percent increase in the number of males reaching 100 during the same period.

They also found that although 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.

Researchers said their findings suggests that increasing number centenarians and conditions associated with reaching this age suggest that the utilization of health care services by the elderly may also increase and could impact healthcare costs.

"This will help to accurately project health care costs associated with the ageing population. Future research should focus on understanding these implications to help develop healthcare services," Hazra said.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.