The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study
The New England Centenarian Study (NECS) was founded in 1994 as a longitudinal study of centenarians to determine if centenarians could be a model of healthy human aging. Over time, the NECS along with other centenarian studies have demonstrated that the majority of centenarians markedly delay high...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2012-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Genetics |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fgene.2012.00277/full |
| _version_ | 1818558833840095232 |
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| author | Paola eSebastiani Thomas T Perls |
| author_facet | Paola eSebastiani Thomas T Perls |
| author_sort | Paola eSebastiani |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The New England Centenarian Study (NECS) was founded in 1994 as a longitudinal study of centenarians to determine if centenarians could be a model of healthy human aging. Over time, the NECS along with other centenarian studies have demonstrated that the majority of centenarians markedly delay high mortality risk-associated diseases towards the ends of their lives, but many centenarians have a history of enduring more chronic age-related diseases for many years, women more so than men. However, the majority of centenarians seem to deal with these chronic diseases more effectively, not experiencing disability until well into their nineties. Unlike most centenarians who are less than 101 years old, people who live to the most extreme ages, e.g. 107+ years, are generally living proof of the compression of morbidity hypothesis. That is, they compress morbidity and disability to the very ends of their lives. Various studies have also demonstrated a strong familial component to extreme longevity and now evidence particularly from the NECS is revealing an increasingly important genetic component to survival to older and older ages beyond 100 years. It appears to us that this genetic component consists of many genetic modifiers each with modest effects, but as a group they can have a strong influence. |
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-920a48e7bed14a0c81c03e13ee3d82c0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-8021 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T00:17:27Z |
| publishDate | 2012-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Genetics |
| spelling | doaj.art-920a48e7bed14a0c81c03e13ee3d82c02022-12-21T23:25:24ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Genetics1664-80212012-11-01310.3389/fgene.2012.0027738346The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian StudyPaola eSebastiani0Thomas T Perls1Boston UniversityBoston University and Boston Medical CenterThe New England Centenarian Study (NECS) was founded in 1994 as a longitudinal study of centenarians to determine if centenarians could be a model of healthy human aging. Over time, the NECS along with other centenarian studies have demonstrated that the majority of centenarians markedly delay high mortality risk-associated diseases towards the ends of their lives, but many centenarians have a history of enduring more chronic age-related diseases for many years, women more so than men. However, the majority of centenarians seem to deal with these chronic diseases more effectively, not experiencing disability until well into their nineties. Unlike most centenarians who are less than 101 years old, people who live to the most extreme ages, e.g. 107+ years, are generally living proof of the compression of morbidity hypothesis. That is, they compress morbidity and disability to the very ends of their lives. Various studies have also demonstrated a strong familial component to extreme longevity and now evidence particularly from the NECS is revealing an increasingly important genetic component to survival to older and older ages beyond 100 years. It appears to us that this genetic component consists of many genetic modifiers each with modest effects, but as a group they can have a strong influence.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fgene.2012.00277/fullGenetic Variationcentenariansgenetic of longevityheritability of longevitycompression of morbidity |
| spellingShingle | Paola eSebastiani Thomas T Perls The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study Frontiers in Genetics Genetic Variation centenarians genetic of longevity heritability of longevity compression of morbidity |
| title | The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study |
| title_full | The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study |
| title_fullStr | The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study |
| title_short | The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study |
| title_sort | genetics of extreme longevity lessons from the new england centenarian study |
| topic | Genetic Variation centenarians genetic of longevity heritability of longevity compression of morbidity |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fgene.2012.00277/full |
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