In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, scientists sought to answer this question.
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“We wanted to find out if they pass on their good health and longevity to their children. And if so, whether these benefits can be explained by healthy lifestyle habits, or if more fundamental factors, such as genetics, play a role,” says Sofiya Milman, a geneticist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
In their study, S. Milman and her colleagues analyzed data from three separate long-term studies. These involved more than 2,300 people whose at least one parent had reached 100 years of age, as well as more than 1,700 participants whose parents were not as long-lived and formed the control group.
“To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study conducted to date,” the scientists write in their article, examining the link between parental longevity and their children’s health.
Their analysis showed that in all three study groups, children of centenarians had a lower risk of death than participants in the control group. They also had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Two of the three study groups also showed a lower risk of stroke.
The risk differences were significant. Children of centenarians had a 32% lower risk of hypertension, a 33% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 42% lower risk of death at any age.
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Moreover, when children of centenarians faced health problems, these usually manifested at an older age than in control group participants. Hypertension began about five years later for them, and death, compared to the control group, occurred on average about three years later.
“What is especially interesting is that these results were similar across all, although quite different, studies. This strengthens the idea that exceptional longevity is associated with family genetics,” says Eric Reed, a scientist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, aging researcher, and lead author of the study.
Interestingly, children of centenarians may be more resistant to cancer and therefore less likely to die from it, even if their risk of developing cancer is not lower.
It is also possible that the better health of children of centenarians is partly related to more frequent cancer screenings. These can help detect low-risk forms of cancer that do not significantly affect mortality.
