title: Parental longevity is associated with cognition and brain ageing in middle-aged offspring.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  offspring of long-lived individuals have lower risk for dementia. We examined the relation between parental longevity and cognition and subclinical markers of brain ageing in community-dwelling adult offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  offspring participants with both parents in the Framingham Heart Study, aged ≥55 years and dementia-free underwent baseline and repeat neuropsychological (NP) testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Parental longevity was defined as having at least one parent survive to age ≥85 years. To test the association between parental longevity and measures of cognition and brain volumes, we used multivariable linear and logistic regression adjusting for age, sex, education and time to NP testing or brain MRI.
  
  
  RESULTS
  of 728 offspring (mean age 66 years, 54% women), 407 (56%) had ≥1 parent achieve longevity. In cross-sectional analysis, parental longevity was associated with better scores on attention (beta 0.21 ± 0.08, P = 0.006) and a lower odds of extensive white matter hyperintensity on brain MRI (odds ratio 0.59, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.92, P = 0.019). The association with white matter hyperintensity was no longer significant in models adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors and disease. In longitudinal analysis (6.7 ± 1.7 years later), offspring with parental longevity had slower decline in attention (0.18 ± 0.08, P = 0.038), executive function (beta 0.19 ± 0.09, P = 0.031) and visual memory (beta -0.18 ± 0.08, P = 0.023), and less increase in temporal horn volume (beta -0.25 ± 0.09, P = 0.005). The associations persisted in fully adjusted models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  parental longevity is associated with better brain ageing in middle-aged offspring.
authors.affiliation: Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Murabito
authors.forename: Alexa S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beiser
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decarli
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seshadri
authors.forename: Philip A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Rhoda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Au
mesh_terms: D032721:Adult Children / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003071:Cognition; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009929:Organ Size; D010290:Parents; D011379:Prognosis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: brain ageing; brain imaging; cognition; longevity; neuropsychological testing; older people; parental longevity