Parental longevity was determined for the mother (yes, no), the father (yes, no) and combined (neither, only the father, only the mother, both). Siblings and children (together referred to as first-degree relatives) of long-lived people are more likely to stay healthy longer and to live to an older age than their peers. People with centenarian parents are less likely, by age 70, to have the age-related illnesses that are common among older adults. Brothers and sisters of centenarians tend to live longer lives, and if they develop age-related illnesses (such as high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, or type 2 diabetes), these diseases appear later than in the general population.
Longer life expectancy tends to be inherited, suggesting that shared genetics, lifestyle, or both play an important role in determining longevity. The answer to whether longevity is inherited more from the mother or the father is not simple. Research suggests that both parents contribute to their children's potential life expectancy, but the influence of maternal genes may be more significant. Studies indicate that children of long-lived mothers tend to live longer themselves, possibly due to the maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA, which is transmitted exclusively through the mother.
However, paternal genetics also play a role, particularly in certain health conditions that can affect life expectancy. Therefore, maternal and paternal genetic factors are important in determining longevity. The differences between maternal and paternal inheritance cannot simply be attributed to the fact that women have a longer life expectancy. Although current epidemiological data show that women have a longer life expectancy compared to their male counterparts, this gender discrepancy in life expectancy does not apply to parents of centenarians and non-centenarians born in the 1850s, who were the subjects of this research.
Demographic records indicate similar life expectancy among men and women in that birth cohort, both in the United States and in Europe. In addition, comparing mothers of centenarians with mothers of non-centenarians and, in a similar way, fathers of centenarians with parents of non-centenarians in the same cohort of people eliminates any biases that may arise due to differences in life expectancy of each gender. Therefore, we believe that the age differences identified between mothers of centenarians and non-centenarians represent real differences in life expectancy, regardless of the aging inherent in each gender. A simplified conceptual representation of the relationship between parental longevity and the longevity of children.
Our goal was to reproduce previous findings, which show a positive association between parental longevity and children's longevity. In the adjusted multivariable analyses, no statistically significant interaction was observed according to sex to determine the relationship between parental age at death (interaction P = 0.46), maternal age at death (interaction P = 0.85) and parental longevity (interaction P = 0.72) when reaching the children's longevity. However, the observed relationship between parental longevity and children's longevity is probably not a direct causal relationship. The selection of confounding factors was based on previous studies that examined the longevity of parents and the longevity of children 1, 2, 3, 4 and on directed acyclic graphs, using a disjunctive cause criterion.
According to previous studies, it is estimated that approximately 20 to 30% of human longevity can be attributed to genetic factors, 23, 24 of which single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the apolipoprotein E gene and the O3A gene in the fork-shaped box are the most important genetic alterations associated with longevity.
