Abstract
Offspring of parents with exceptional longevity (OPEL), who are more likely to carry longevity-associated genotypes, may age more successfully than offspring of parents with usual survival (OPUS). Maintenance of physical function is a key attribute of successful aging. While many genetic and non-genetic factors interact to determine physical phenotype in aging, examination of the contribution of exceptional parental longevity to physical function in aging is limited. The LonGenity study recruited a relatively genetically homogenous cohort of Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) adults age 65 and older, who were defined as either OPEL (having at least one parent who lived to age 95 or older) or OPUS (neither parent survived to age 95). Subjective and objective measures of physical function were compared between the two groups, accounting for potential confounders. Of the 893 LonGenity subjects, 365 were OPEL and 528 were OPUS. OPEL had better objective and subjective measures of physical function than OPUS, especially on unipedal stance (p = 0.009) and gait speed (p = 0.002). Results support the protective role of exceptional parental longevity in preventing decline in physical function, possibly via genetic mechanisms that should be further explored.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from NIH P01AG021654 (NB, JC), R01 AG 046949 (Nir Barzilai, Sofiya Milman, Jill P. Crandall) the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence for the Biology of Aging P30AG038072 (NB), Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Paul Glenn Foundation Grant (Nir Barzilai). Sofiya Milman is a recipient of the Ellison Medical Foundation/American Federation for Aging Research Postdoctoral Research in Aging Grant. Jill P. Crandall is a recipient of The Paul Glenn Foundation Award for Research in the Biological Mechanisms of Aging. The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), through CTSA grant numbers UL1TR000086, TL1RR000087, and KL2TR000088. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
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Ayers, E., Barzilai, N., Crandall, J.P. et al. Association of exceptional parental longevity and physical function in aging. AGE 36, 9677 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-014-9677-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-014-9677-5