Cardiovascular risk factors in centenarians
Antonio Galioto1, Ligia J Dominguez, Antonella Pineo
1Geriatric Section, Department of Internal Medicine and Emerging Pathologies, University of Palermo, Viale Fco. Scaduto 6/c, 90144 Palermo, Italy.
Insights
Centenarians exhibit superior cardiovascular health compared to younger elderly individuals, suggesting a combination of genetics and healthy lifestyle choices contribute to their exceptional longevity and reduced cardiovascular disease risk.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Genetics
Background:
- Centenarians often display better cardiovascular risk profiles than younger elderly populations.
- Cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and diabetes are less prevalent in centenarians.
- Exceptional longevity in centenarians is attributed to a mix of genetic and lifestyle factors, potentially overcoming major mortality causes like cardiovascular events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the factors contributing to the reduced cardiovascular disease prevalence in centenarians.
- To investigate the roles of genetics, lifestyle, and pharmacologic treatments in centenarian cardiovascular health.
- To understand how cardiovascular risk factors relate to extreme longevity.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of cardiovascular risk profiles in centenarians versus younger elderly individuals.
- Examination of genetic inheritance patterns of cardiovascular health in centenarian offspring.
- Review of lifestyle factors and medication use in centenarian populations.
Main Results:
- Centenarians generally have fewer cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, diabetes, etc.) than 70- and 80-year-olds.
- Pharmacologic treatment's contribution to extreme longevity is unconfirmed; centenarians often require fewer drugs due to healthier lifestyles.
- Centenarian offspring show inherited low-risk cardiovascular profiles and a delayed onset of cardiovascular diseases compared to controls.
Conclusions:
- A combination of genetic predisposition and healthy lifestyle choices significantly contributes to the cardiovascular health and longevity of centenarians.
- While pharmacologic treatments are common in the elderly, they are not confirmed as a primary driver of extreme longevity.
- Reduced prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors is a key characteristic of centenarians, mirroring factors that promote longevity.
Abstract:
Several studies have shown that centenarians have better cardiovascular risk profiles compared to younger old people. Some reports have revealed that cardiovascular diseases (i.e. hypertension, diabetes, angina and/or myocardial infarction) are less common in centenarians respect to 70 and 80 years old persons. In order to explain this evidence, there is a growing number of hypothesis that consider a combination of genetic factors and lifestyle aspects to elucidate the exceptional longevity of centenarians, able to overcome the most frequent mortality cause, which is a cardiovascular event. It has been suggested that a role on this better cardiovascular risk profile may be played by the increasing use of pharmacologic treatments in the elderly population (specially for hypertension and dyslipidemia), but the contribution of drug treatments to promote extreme longevity is not confirmed. Furthermore, centenarians in general have needed fewer drugs at younger ages due to a healthy lifestyle. The importance of the genetic contribution is demonstrated by the inheritance of low-risk cardiovascular profiles in centenarian offspring and lower prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in this population as compared with their spouses or with age-matched subjects without centenarian parents. Another advantage in centenarians' offspring seems to be a delay in the onset for cardiovascular diseases, respect to age- and sex-matched controls. Cardiovascular risk factors mirror the factors that contribute to longevity. Hence, it is not surprising that these risk factors are less prevalent in centenarians when compared to younger old individuals.
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