{ Study} - Long life depends on lifespan of parents
A study, believed to be the largest of its kind ever conducted has
shown that the longer parents live, the longer their offspring are
likely to live.
The research, released on Wednesday by the Medical Research Council
(MRC) in London, also indicated that children of long-lived parents are
more likely to stay healthy in their 60s and 70s.
The eight-year study led by the University of Exeter also involved an
international team of academics from the University of Cambridge.
Also involved in the research, are UConn Centre on Aging at UConn
Health in Connecticut, U.S., the French National Institute of Health and
the Indian Institute of Public Health.
The researchers noted that those with longer-lived parents had much lower rates of heart conditions and cancers.
They said that the study, funded by the MRC and involving almost
190,000 participants in the United Kingdom Biobank, was the largest of
its kind.
“It found that chances of survival increased by 17 per cent for each decade that at least one parent lives beyond the age of 70.
“It found evidence showing for the first time that knowing the age at
which parents died could help predict risk not only of heart disease,
but many aspects of heart and circulatory health,’’ they said.
The researchers disclosed that they used data on the health of
186,000 middle-aged offspring, aged 55 years to 73 years, followed over a
period of up to eight years.
The team found that those with longer lived-parents had lower
incidence of multiple circulatory conditions, including heart disease,
heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels.
It found that the risk of death from heart disease was 20 per cent
lower for each decade that at least one parent lived beyond the age of
70 years.
In addition, those with longer lived-parents also had reduced risk of
cancer; a seven-per cent reduced likelihood of cancer in the follow-up
per longer-lived parent.
It, however, noted that although factors such as smoking, high
alcohol consumption, low physical activity and obesity were important,
the lifespan of parents was still predictive of disease onset after
accounting for these risks.
Dr Janice Atkins, a Research Fellow in the Epidemiology and Public
Health group at the University of Exeter Medical School and lead author
on the paper, said that the research was intensive.
He said that the research showed that “the longer your parents live,
the more likely you are to remain healthy in your sixties and
seventies’’.
Atkins said that the study was built on previous findings published
by the University of Exeter Medical School researchers earlier this
year, which established a genetic link between parents’ longevity and
heart disease risk.
Professor David Melzer, Leader of the Research Program, said that it
had been unclear why some older people developed heart conditions in
their 60s while others only developed these conditions much later in
life or even avoid them completely.
He said that the research showed that, while avoiding the well-known
risk factors such as smoking, it is very important that there are also
other factors inherited from parents.
“As we understand these parental factors better, we should be able to help more people to age well,’’ Melzer said.
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