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Children of Centenarians Have Delays in Age-Related Diseases: Presented at AGS

By Roberta Friedman, PhD

BALTIMORE, MD -- May 20, 2003 -- Children of parents who live beyond age 100 appear to resist the effects of advancing age and show delayed onset or absence of the diseases of aging, according to findings reported here May 20^th at the Annual Meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.

Multivariate analysis of 350 children of centenarians revealed a 56% reduction in the risk of heart disease and 59% lower risk of diabetes. High blood pressure was 66% less likely to develop in these people.

Researchers at the Boston University Medical School compared 177 children of centenarians to 166 control offspring of parents who were born the same year as the centenarians, with at least one of the parents having died at age 73 -- average life expectancy of the cohort -- and the other parent having died before reaching 100.

Dellana Terry, MD, MPH, of the geriatrics section, University of Boston Department of Medicine, presented the findings.

Children of centenarians who developed hypertension did so at a more advanced age compared to controls (P<0.001). Diabetes, heart disease, and stroke also were significantly delayed in age of onset if these conditions appeared in the centenarians' children.

Cancer, however, did not appear at different rates or onset age for the two groups. "Maybe the real differences lie in cardiovascular risk factors, at least up to the 70s" in age, said Dr. Terry.

Both groups had to have a parent live into their 70s, Dr. Terry said, so there is a survival bias inherent in the study. "They are surviving disease, but one group is comprised of significantly better survivors," she said.

Fewer offspring of centenarians took prescription medicines, and they have lower weight and body mass compared to controls (P=0.05).

Study investigators have identified a gene locus on chromosome 4 that may play a role in longevity. It appears in 137 sibships with at least two centenarian siblings.


[Study title: Children of Centenarians Delay Age-Related Diseases. Abstract P424]

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