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Parental longevity linked to lower CV risk among offspring
The risk for CV events and mortality in middle-aged adults was markedly lower the longer a person’s parents lived past the age of 69 years, according to new research in the Journal of American College of Cardiology.
The 186,151-participant, U.K. Biobank study examined non-adopted participants from England, Wales and Scotland aged 55 to 73 years. The goal was to examine the association between parental longevity and the incidence of early onset CV events among offspring. During 8 years, follow-up data were collected from hospital admission and death records.
The offspring participants had a mean age of 63 years and 53% were women. At baseline, increasing parental longevity was linked to higher offspring education, higher income, more physical activity, and lower smoking prevalence and lower obesity rates.
According the findings, combined parental longevity (mother and father) past the age of 69 years was inversely associated a decline of 16% to 17% per additional decade of the parents’ lives for all-cause mortality and a decline of 20% to 21% per additional decade of the parents’ lives for CHD mortality.
Additionally, offspring of longer-lived parents had a lower incidence of multiple CV conditions such as peripheral vascular disease (HR per SD increase in parents’ age at death = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.76-0.87), HF (HR = 0.86; 95% CI, 0.81-0.91), stroke (HR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.83-0.93), hypertension (HR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.86-0.91), CHD (HR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.88-0.94), anemia (HR = 0.91; 95% CI, 0.86-0.96), hypercholesterolemia (HR = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.9-0.96) and atrial fibrillation (HR = 0.94; 95% CI, 0.9-0.97).
“It’s been unclear why some older people develop heart conditions in their [60s] while others only develop these conditions in their [90s] or even older,” David Melzer, MBBCh, PhD, professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Exeter Medical School in Exeter, United Kingdom, and professor at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging, said in a press release. “Avoiding the well-known risk factors such as smoking is very important, but our research shows there are also factors inherited from parents that influence heart health. As we understand these parental factors better, we should be able to help more people to age well.”
The researchers noted several limitations of the study, including a lack of representation of the greater population and a limited age-range of the offspring included. They noted that further research is needed to establish whether parental longevity is conducive in assessing circulatory risks. – by Dave Quaile
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.