A notable investigation about the inheritance of long healthy life was published this week in the journal Age and Aging. A team of scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine [1] found that women whose mothers live more than 90 years had the 25 % expectancy to live a long time too. The presence of two long-lived parents enhanced the beneficial prognosis for women (38 %). However, the paternal longevity wasn't associated with the daughters' exceptional healthspan.
It should be noted that centenarians and 90-years-olds are often people who have good health without any serious chronic diseases most of their life. In the study, daughters of long-lived women maintained excellent health and in most cases had a higher level of living and social status. They rarely experienced age-related diseases (particularly, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, hip fracture), as well as obesity and depression [1]. Previously, it was also shown that exceptional parental longevity is associated with the reduced risk of age-related neurological disorders (Alzheimer's disease and memory decline) [2] and sleep disturbances [3] in the offspring.
Aladdin Shadyab commented for the UC San Diego News Center [4]: "Achieving healthy aging has become a critical public health priority in light of the rapidly growing aging population in the United States. Our results show that, not only did these women live to age 90, but they also aged well by avoiding major diseases and disabilities. It's not just about the number of candles on the cake. These women were independent and could do daily activities like bathing, walking, climbing a flight of stairs or participating in hobbies they love, like golf, without limitations."
The lifespan of offspring is the result of genetic, epigenetic, environmental, behavioral, and lifestyle factors. And the present study points out that a gender component influences the heritability of prolonged life- and healthspan. Scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have also showed that children of centenarian mothers (but not fathers) can look forward to a long life [5].
A number of studies point out that the genetic factor play a decisive role in the living to extreme ages. Recently, Nature Communications published a preprint article [6] which analyzed the relationship between genetic loci conditioning exceptional lifespan and mortality at three generations. It was shown that extreme longevity transmitted as a quantitative genetic trait. At the same time, a balanced diet can less the risk of chronic diseases and prolonged healthy life. However, dietary patterns didn't influence the differences in survival of the offspring of parents with exceptional and normal survival [7]. In another study [8], parental longevity to age 95 or beyond was associated with a low prevalence of cardio-vascular diseases independent of lifestyle, socioeconomic, and dietary factors.
References:
- 1. Shadyab A.H. et al. Parental longevity predicts healthy ageing among women. Age Ageing. 2018. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afy125.
- 2. Lipton R.B. et al. Exceptional parental longevity associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and memory decline. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010; 58 (6): 1043-1049. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02868.x.
- 3. Klein L. et al. Association between sleep patterns and health in families with exceptional longevity. Front Med (Lausanne). 2017; 4: 214. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2017.00214.
- 4. Brubaker M. Parental life span predicts daughters living to 90 without chronic disease or disability.
- https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/parental_life_span_predicts_daughters_living_to_90_without_chronic_disease_or_disability
- 5. Deluty J.A. et al. The influence of gender on inheritance of exceptional longevity. Aging (Albany NY). 2015; 7 (6): 412-418. doi: 10.18632/aging.100763.
- 6. van den Berg N. Longevity defined as top 10% survivors is transmitted as a quantitative genetic trait: results from large three-generation datasets. Nat Commun. 2018.
- https://nature-research-under-consideration.nature.com/users/37265-nature-communications/posts/37624-longevity-defined-as-top-10-survivors-is-transmitted-as-a-quantitative-genetic-trait-results-from-large-three-generation-datasets
- 7. Gubbi S. et al. The role of dietary patterns and exceptional parental longevity in healthy aging. Nutr Healthy Aging. 2017; 4 (3): 247-254. doi: 10.3233/NHA-170028.
- 8. Gubbi S. et al. Effect of exceptional parental longevity and lifestyle factors on prevalence of cardiovascular disease in offspring. Am J Cardiol. 2017; 120 (12): 2170-2175. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2017.08.040.
Parental longevity predicts healthy ageing among women | Age and Ageing | Oxford Academic
Abstract
Objective: To examine the association of parental longevity with healthy survival to age 90 years.
Methods: This was a prospective study among a racially and ethnically diverse cohort of 22,735 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative recruited from 1993 to 1998 and followed through 2017. Women reported maternal and paternal ages at death and current age of alive parents. Parental survival categories were <70, 70–79 (reference), 80–89 and ≥90 years (longevity). Healthy ageing was defined as reaching age 90 without major chronic conditions (coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, or hip fracture) or physical limitations.
Results: Women whose mothers survived to ≥90 years were more likely to attain healthy ageing (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.11–1.42) and less likely to die before age 90 (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.68–0.83). Women whose fathers survived to ≥90 years did not have significantly increased odds of healthy ageing but showed 21% (OR, 0.79; 95% CI, 0.70–0.90) decreased odds of death before age 90. Women whose mother and father both lived to 90 had the strongest odds of healthy ageing (OR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.09–1.75) and decreased odds of death (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54–0.85). The proportion of healthy survivors was highest among women whose mother and father lived to 90 (28.6%), followed by those whose mother only lived to 90 (23.2%).
Conclusions: Parental longevity predicted healthy ageing in a national cohort of postmenopausal women, supporting the view that genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors transmitted across generations may influence ageing outcomes among offspring.
