The Effect of Genetic Factors for Longevity: A Comparison of Identical and Fraternal Twins in the Swedish Twin Registry

Ljungquist, Birgit; Berg, Stig; Lanke, Jan; McClearn, Gerald E.; Pedersen, Nancy L.

doi:10.1093/gerona/53a.6.m441

Cited by 207 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It is worth noting that the above evidence for a substantial and significant genetic effect on the likelihood of reaching exceptionally old age is not inconsistent with several twin studies indicating that the heritability of life span considered as a quantitative trait is between 20% and 30% (28)(29)(30). The results of these studies in which few subjects survived beyond age 85 should not be interpreted as an indication of the genetic contribution to achieving much older age, that is, the nonagenarian years and beyond.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Life-long sustained mortality advantage of siblings of centenarians

Perls

Wilmoth

Levenson

et al. 2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

324

226

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Although survival to old age is known to have strong environmental and behavioral components, mortality differences between social groups tend to diminish or even disappear at older ages. Hypothesizing that surviving to extreme old age entails a substantial familial predisposition for longevity, we analyzed the pedigrees of 444 centenarian families in the United States. These pedigrees included 2,092 siblings of centenarians, whose survival was compared with 1900 birth cohort survival data from the U.S. Social Security Administration. Siblings of centenarians experienced a mortality advantage throughout their lives relative to the U.S. 1900 cohort. Female siblings had death rates at all ages about one-half the national level; male siblings had a similar advantage at most ages, although diminished somewhat during adolescence and young adulthood. Relative survival probabilities for these siblings increase markedly at older ages, reflecting the cumulative effect of their mortality advantage throughout life. Compared with the U.S. 1900 cohort, male siblings of centenarians were at least 17 times as likely to attain age 100 themselves, while female siblings were at least 8 times as likely.genetics ͉ aging ͉ longevity ͉ sibling pair ͉ oldest old M any centenarians live the majority of their exceptionally long lives in good health, demonstrating a rapid decline only near the end of life (1). Deciphering why centenarians markedly delay or in some cases even escape age-associated diseases could help in better understanding the pathogenesis of diseases such as stroke, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's dementia, and the relative contributions of environment, behavior, and genetics in determining rates of aging and susceptibility or resistance to diseases that cause premature mortality (2).Whereas survival to old age is known to have a strong environmental and behavioral component, mortality differences between social groups tend to diminish or even disappear at older ages (3-5). One explanation for this phenomenon is that genetic factors unrelated to social groupings play a predominant role in survival chances at older ages. If genetic factors are indeed an important component of longevity, there should be greater similarity of individual longevity within families or lineages than within the population as a whole. We have documented the familial component of longevity in a variety of ways, as part of a larger study of centenarians in the United States.In a previous study, four families, impressive for the number of individuals achieving extreme old age, were identified (6). The question was explored as to whether such intrafamilial clustering could be attributed to chance alone, or if shared characteristics might be responsible for a collective ability to achieve extreme old age. A mathematical analysis was performed to determine the probability of families such as these occurring by random variation alone. Such probabilities were found to be extremely small (less than 1 per all of the families that exist in the world...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Life-long sustained mortality advantage of siblings of centenarians

Perls

Wilmoth

Levenson

et al. 2002

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

324

226

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Many biogerontologists have argued that human life-expectancy is largely due to genetics [1,2]. However, it has been well-documented that only 20%-30% of human life-expectancy is explained by genetic variation [2][3][4]. Some researchers have concluded that psychosocial resources play an essential role in explaining aging processes beyond biology; Poon et al, and Silverstein et al [5,6] noted that psychosocial theories of aging serve as useful tools to examine unexplained complexities in human aging.…”

Section: Evidence Of Psychosocial Theories Among the Oldest-oldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Supportive Evidence for Psychosocial Theories of Aging within the Oral History Narratives of Centenarians

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Oral history provides researchers opportunities to assess narratives and compare them to existing theories of aging. Oftentimes the discussion of psychosocial theories of aging does not include the oldest-old. The purpose of this study was to assess evidence of psychosocial theories of aging within oral history narratives from a subsample of 20 centenarians from the Oklahoma 100 Year Life Oral History Project. Analysis utilized seven theories: Activity Theory, Continuity Theory, Disengagement Theory, Theory of Gerotranscendence, Modernization Theory, Selective Optimization with Compensation (SOC) Theory, and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST). Researchers used content analysis to assess each oral history narrative and noted Activity Theory and Gerotranscendence had the most evidence. Most centenarians described how they were extremely active well into older adulthood. Common themes across oral history narratives indicated that centenarians maintained a preference for activity such as formal work. Centenarians also reported a readiness for death and little fear of it. In addition, increased time spent reflecting on spirituality and religion indicated changes in self-discovery. Identification of Disengagement and Socioemotional Selectivity were sparse in the transcripts. It is possible that to reach such longevity, centenarians relied on their communities and support networks to achieve this status. It is also possible that centenarians outlived individuals in their social networks who were emotionally fulfilling. Further qualitative work should assess evidence of psychosocial theories among other long-lived older adults.

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“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Although these studies do not distinguish between shared environmental and genetic factors, twin data suggest that genes may have a modest role in achieving longevity. 12,13 In order to better distinguish the effect of genes from the effect of shared familial environment, Schoenmaker et al 3 analyzed the survival data of the spouses of long-lived subjects as an additional control group. They found that members of this control group, who shared most of their adult life with the long-lived partner, did not show any advantage/benefit in terms of survival, suggesting that a substantial contribution in the familiarity of human longevity is attributable to genetic factors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic component of human longevity: analysis of the survival advantage of parents and siblings of Italian nonagenarians

et al. 2011

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Many epidemiological studies have shown that parents, siblings and offspring of long-lived subjects have a significant survival advantage when compared with the general population. However, how much of this reported advantage is due to common genetic factors or to a shared environment remains to be resolved.We reconstructed 202 families of nonagenarians from a population of southern Italy. To estimate the familiarity of human longevity, we compared survival data of parents and siblings of long-lived subjects to that of appropriate Italian birth cohorts. Then, to estimate the genetic component of longevity while minimizing the variability due to environment factors, we compared the survival functions of nonagenarians' siblings with those of their spouses (intrafamily control group).We found that both parents and siblings of the probands had a significant survival advantage over their Italian birth cohort counterparts. On the other hand, although a substantial survival advantage was observed in male siblings of probands with respect to the male intrafamily control group, female siblings did not show a similar advantage. In addition, we observed that the presence of a male nonagenarians in a family significantly decreased the instant mortality rate throughout lifetime for all the siblings; in the case of a female nonagenarians such an advantage persisted only for her male siblings.The methodological approach used here allowed us to distinguish the effects of environmental and genetic factors on human longevity. Our results suggest that genetic factors in males have a higher impact than in females on attaining longevity.

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The Effect of Genetic Factors for Longevity: A Comparison of Identical and Fraternal Twins in the Swedish Twin Registry

Cited by 207 publications

References 13 publications

Life-long sustained mortality advantage of siblings of centenarians

Life-long sustained mortality advantage of siblings of centenarians

Examining Supportive Evidence for Psychosocial Theories of Aging within the Oral History Narratives of Centenarians

The genetic component of human longevity: analysis of the survival advantage of parents and siblings of Italian nonagenarians

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