Health Zone; Long life depends on lifespan of parents – Study

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.