Are Members of Long-Lived Families Healthier Than Their Equally Long-Lived Peers? Evidence From the Long Life Family Study.
BACKGROUND
The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) is a multicenter longitudinal study of exceptional survival among members of long-lived sibships (probands), their offspring, and spouses of either group. For these four "roles", we asked: Does membership in a long-lived family protect against disease?


METHODS
We used 2008-2010 Beneficiary Annual Summary Files from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to compare prevalences of 17 conditions among 781 LLFS participants in Medicare with those of 3,227 non-LLFS matches from the general Medicare population. Analyses accounted for nesting within LLFS families.


RESULTS
Seven conditions were significantly less common among LLFS probands than their matches: Alzheimer's, hip fracture, diabetes, depression, prostate cancer, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease. Four diseases not strongly linked to mortality (arthritis, cataract, osteoporosis, glaucoma) were significantly more common for LLFS probands. Despite fewer people and less disease in those roles, LLFS offspring and LLFS spouses of either generation also had significantly lower risk for Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart failure.


CONCLUSIONS
Common, severe mortality-associated diseases are less prevalent among LLFS probands and their offspring than in the general population of aging Americans. Quality-of-life-limiting diseases such as arthritis and cataract are more prevalent, potentially through more diagnosing of milder forms in otherwise healthy and active individuals. LLFS spouses are also relatively healthy. As the younger cohorts age into Medicare and develop more conditions, it will be important to see whether these tentative findings strengthen.
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.
Arlene S
AS
Ash
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester. aimee.kroll@umassmed.edu.
Aimee R
AR
Kroll-Desrosiers
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.
David C
DC
Hoaglin
Departments of Clinical Genetics and Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, The Danish Aging Research Center, University of Southern Denmark, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
Kaare
K
Christensen
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.
Hua
H
Fang
Department of Medicine, Section of Geriatrics, Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
Thomas T
TT
Perls
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male
Genetics; Health Services; Longevity; Morbidity; Resilience