Abstract
Background: Long-lived individuals are central in studies of determinants of healthy longevity. However, few pro-longevity factors have been identified, presumably because of “phenocopies”, i.e. individuals that live long by chance. Familial longevity cases may include less phenocopies than sporadic cases and provide better insights into longevity mechanisms. Here we examined whether long-lived female siblings have a better ability to avoid common diseases at ages 65+ (proxy for “robustness”) and/or survive to extreme ages (proxy for “resilience”) compared to sporadic long-livers. Methods: 1,156 long-lived female siblings were selected from three nationwide Danish studies (DOS, GeHA, LLFS) and age-matched with sporadic long-lived female control from the Danish population. Outcomes included cumulative incidence of common health disorders from age 65, and overall survival from 2006 onwards. Logistic and Cox models were used to evaluate incidence and survival respectively. Results: Long-lived female siblings had significantly lower risks of hypertensive (OR=0.84; 95%CI=0.71-0.99) and cerebrovascular (OR=0.73; 95%CI=0.55-0.96) diseases and depression (OR=0.74; 95%CI=0.62-0.88) at ages 65+, and better survival to extreme ages (HR=0.71; 95%CI= 0.63-0.81) compared to sporadic long-livers. After adjusting for diseases above, the association with mortality changed only marginally (HR=0.73 (0.64-0.83)). Conclusion: Familial longevity cases could be more informative for studying mechanisms of healthy longevity than sporadic cases. Long-lived female siblings demonstrate better physical robustness and resilience than their age-peers from general population, which might be attributed to a genetic component in familial longevity.
Highlights
Long-lived individuals are central in studies of determinants of healthy longevity
This study aims to examine relationships of parental longevity with regional brain volumes
We identified 10,513 participants from UK Biobank with data on parental longevity and information on MRI regional brain volumes that have been related to executive function, memory and motor function
Summary
Physical Robustness and Resilience Among Long-Lived Female Siblings: A Comparison With Sporadic Long-Livers. We identified 10,513 participants from UK Biobank (mean age=58±6, ranged40-70, 50%women) with data on parental longevity and information on MRI regional brain volumes that have been related to executive function (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), memory (hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, inferior temporal lobe, middle temporal lobe) and motor function (precentral gyrus, putamen, caudate, corpus callosum). Parental longevity is associated with preserved brain structure localized in memory- and motor-related cortical regions. These findings support previous reports that parental longevity is associated with better memory and gait with aging. PHYSICAL ROBUSTNESS AND RESILIENCE AMONG LONG-LIVED FEMALE SIBLINGS: A COMPARISON WITH SPORADIC LONG-LIVERS Angéline Galvin, Svetlana Ukraintseva, Konstantin Arbeev, Mary Feitosa, and Kaare Christensen, .
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