Abstract
Individuals from families recruited for the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) (n= 4559) were examined and compared to individuals from other cohorts to determine whether the recruitment targeting longevity resulted in a cohort of individuals with better health and function. Other cohorts with similar data included the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Framingham Heart Study, and the New England Centenarian Study. Diabetes, chronic pulmonary disease and peripheral artery disease tended to be less common in LLFS probands and offspring compared to similar aged persons in the other cohorts. Pulse pressure and triglycerides were lower, high density lipids were higher, and a perceptual speed task and gait speed were better in LLFS. Age-specific comparisons showed differences that would be consistent with a higher peak, later onset of decline or slower rate of change across age in LLFS participants. These findings suggest several priority phenotypes for inclusion in future genetic analysis to identify loci contributing to exceptional survival.
Highlights
Longevity and relative longevity with preserved physiologic function or low levels of disease are types of “exceptional survival,” a term promoted by the National Institute on Aging Advisory Panel on Exceptional Longevity [1] to encompass multiple outcomes for the study of healthy aging
The Framingham Heart Study original cohort was older than both Long Life Family Study (LLFS) and Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), while the FHS offspring cohort was more similar in age to LLFS
The Long Life Family Study cohort was more highly educated compared to CHS, New England Centenarian Study (NECS) and FHS and this was more apparent in the LLFS offspring generation
Summary
Longevity and relative longevity with preserved physiologic function or low levels of disease are types of “exceptional survival,” a term promoted by the National Institute on Aging Advisory Panel on Exceptional Longevity [1] to encompass multiple outcomes for the study of healthy aging. The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) is a multi-center effort to enroll families clustered for exceptional survival in order to identify environmental and genetic factors that promote long healthy lives in these family members. The offspring generation has not yet had the opportunity to manifest longevity; this will take years of follow-up Their exceptionality might manifest as lower prevalence of diseases that are the major contributors to mortality in older adults as has been demonstrated in the offspring of centenarians and the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) [5,6]. The initial examination of LLFS participants was designed to capture several of these exceptional survival phenotypes
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