Abstract:
A newly published study shows that people with centenarian parents not only live longer overall, but also show significant advantages in cardiovascular health. The study found that children of centenarians had a 42% lower risk of death, a 33% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 32% lower risk of high blood pressure than those whose parents had shorter lifespans. Researchers believe this means that "excellent longevity" not only means living longer, but may also mean staying healthy longer.
This study was published in "JAMA Network Open" and was jointly completed by a research team from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Boston University, and Tufts Medical Center. The research further strengthens the previous judgment of the scientific community that abnormal longevity and healthy aging tend to cluster in families. The study also pointed out that although a healthy lifestyle is important, it is not enough to fully explain the health advantages of the descendants of centenarians.
Sophia Millman, senior author of the study and professor of medicine and genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said centenarians are an important window into studying healthy aging. The research team hopes to find out whether these long-lived people will pass on their lifespan and health advantages to the next generation, and whether these advantages are due to lifestyle habits or are related to deeper biological mechanisms and genetic factors.
To this end, the researchers integrated data from three large-scale research projects that lasted a long time and covered different regions, including the LonGenity study led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the New England Centenarian Study at Boston University, and the British Biobank Project. A total of 2,319 adult subjects with at least one centenarian parent and 2,703 control group members were included in the study.
The control group consists of two types of people: one is people whose parents live no more than 85 years old, and the other is the spouses of children of centenarians. The researchers explain that spouses often share similar living environments and habits but not the same genetic background, thus helping to better distinguish the effects of environmental versus genetic factors.
The longest follow-up period of relevant data is 29 years, and the remaining cohorts also have 16 years of long-term observation records. Although the three projects were conducted independently, the research team used a unified method to analyze the data to confirm whether the relevant patterns persisted across different groups of people.
The results showed that at any age, the mortality risk of children of centenarians was significantly lower than that of the control group, with a decrease of 42%. At the same time, their risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension dropped by 33% and 32% respectively.
Not only that, these health benefits are also reflected in the delay in the onset of disease. The study found that the children of centenarians died about three years later on average than the control group, and the onset of hypertension was delayed by about five years on average. The researchers note that hypertension is an important risk factor for a variety of heart, blood vessel, kidney and brain diseases, so delaying the onset of hypertension may lead to broader health benefits.
In order to eliminate the interference of lifestyle, the research team further adjusted factors such as smoking, drinking, exercise, diet, education level and socioeconomic status. The results show that even after taking these variables into account, the health advantage for offspring of centenarians remains largely the same. This means that common health behaviors and social circumstances cannot fully explain why exceptional longevity persists in certain families.
However, the study also found that this protective effect is not equally effective against all diseases. The protective effect against stroke has only been verified in part of the study cohort and has not been consistent across the entire sample. In terms of cancer, children of centenarians did not show a lower risk of the disease, a result consistent with the conclusions of some earlier studies.
Eric Reed, the first author of the paper, said that the high consistency of the results between different study cohorts is particularly noteworthy, which further supports the idea that excellent longevity has familial aggregation. He emphasized that this does not mean that lifestyle is not important and healthy behaviors are crucial for everyone; but some people from long-lived families seem to have additional biological advantages that allow them to maintain better health when facing the same environmental and behavioral risks.
The researchers pointed out that this study did not directly identify which genetic characteristics or biological mechanisms provide protection for the descendants of centenarians. However, longevity families provide a unique opportunity to explore the biological basis of healthy aging. By in-depth study of centenarians and their families, scientists are expected to discover key factors that promote longevity and delay the occurrence of age-related diseases.
The research team believes that if these natural longevity mechanisms can be revealed in the future and treatments that mimic their mode of action can be developed, even people without a family background of longevity are expected to benefit from them and achieve a longer and healthier life in later life.
Paola Sebastiani, co-author of the study and director of the Center for Quantitative Methods and Data Science at Tufts Medical Center, said that this study provides strong evidence that "the descendants of centenarians can inherit some of the advantages of healthy aging" and also brings the scientific community one step closer to uncovering the biological secrets behind healthy longevity.
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