Life-Long Sustained Mortality Advantage of Siblings of Centenarians

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 99; no. 12; pp. 8442 - 8447
• Main Authors: Perls, Thomas T., Wilmoth, John, Levenson, Robin, Drinkwater, Maureen, Cohen, Melissa, Bogan, Hazel, Joyce, Erin, Brewster, Stephanie, Kunkel, Louis, Puca, Annibale
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 11.06.2002; National Acad Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Age groups; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Behavioral genetics; Biological Sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Cohort Studies; Death; Humans; Infant; Life Expectancy; Life tables; Longevity; Medical genetics; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nuclear Family; Older people; Population; Probabilities; Siblings; United States; United States

Although survival to old age is known to have strong environmental and behavioral components, mortality differences between social groups tend to diminish or even disappear at older ages. Hypothesizing that surviving to extreme old age entails a substantial familial predisposition for longevity, we...