Centenarian Offspring Show Lower Mortality and Some Disease Risks in Three Cohorts
An analysis of three longitudinal cohorts found that people with at least one parent who reached 100 had lower hazards of death, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension than participants whose parents had shorter lifespans. The observational findings do not establish whether genetics, lifestyle, or family environment explains the associations.
People whose parents lived to at least 100 years had lower risks of death, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension than comparison participants in an analysis of three longitudinal cohorts. The study also found that the centenarian offspring group experienced estimated delays in death and hypertension onset, while results for stroke and cancer were less consistent.
The analysis drew on the LonGenity cohort in the New York City area, the New England Centenarian Study, and the UK Biobank. The respective study periods were 2008-2024, 1995-2024, and 2006-2022. Across the cohorts, researchers compared participants with at least one centenarian parent with offspring of parents who had shorter lifespans.
The combined study populations included 480 people from LonGenity, 1,566 from the New England Centenarian Study, and 1,984 from the UK Biobank. The proportion who were offspring of centenarians was 51% in LonGenity, 69% in the New England cohort, and 50% in the UK Biobank.
Using Cox proportional hazards regression, the researchers estimated differences in mortality and in the onset of four age-associated conditions: cardiovascular disease, cancer, hypertension, and stroke. Meta-analyses across the cohorts produced hazard ratios of 0.58 for death, 0.67 for cardiovascular disease, and 0.68 for hypertension among centenarian offspring compared with controls. The analysis estimated a 3.12-year delay in death and a 5.21-year delay in hypertension onset for the centenarian offspring group.
The stroke findings varied by cohort. Stroke hazards were lower among centenarian offspring in LonGenity, with a hazard ratio of 0.27, and in the New England Centenarian Study, with a hazard ratio of 0.41. No significant association with cancer was identified.
The findings add to earlier indications that the children of exceptionally long-lived people may also live longer and develop some age-related diseases later. However, the analysis does not determine why the association exists. The source report identifies genetic inheritance and cultural or lifestyle transmission as competing possibilities.
That distinction is important for longevity research. An association between parental lifespan and offspring outcomes does not show that specific gene variants caused the observed differences, nor does it establish that the results can be reproduced through a particular intervention. The report also notes evidence suggesting that lifestyle factors, including physical fitness, may be major influences on life expectancy for most people. The study therefore describes a population-level pattern rather than demonstrating a genetic pathway or an age-slowing treatment.
Reporting Note
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