title: Compression of Morbidity Is Observed Across Cohorts with Exceptional Longevity.
abstract: To determine, in a sample of Ashkenazi Jewish aged 95 and older, whether there is a compression of morbidity similar to what has been reported in other cohorts with exceptional longevity.
  
  
  
  Case-control study.
  
  
  
  Longevity Genes Project (LGP) and New England Centenarian Study (NECS).
  
  
  
  LGP (n = 439, mean age 97.8 ± 2.8) and NECS (n = 1,498, mean age 101.4 ± 4.0) participants with exceptional longevity and their respective younger referent cohorts (LGP, n = 696; NECS, n = 302).
  
  
  
  Self- and proxy reports of age of onset of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, and stroke.
  
  
  
  Long-lived individuals from LGP and NECS had later age of onset of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and osteoporosis than their respective younger reference groups. The risk of overall morbidity was lower in participants with exceptional longevity than in younger participants (NECS men: relative risk (RR) = 0.12, women: RR = 0.20; LGP men: RR = 0.18, women: RR = 0.24). The age at which 20% of each of the groups with exceptional longevity experienced specific diseases was between 18 and 24 years later than in the reference groups, stratified according to sex.
  
  
  
  The similar extension of health span and compression of morbidity seen in NECS and LGP participants with exceptional longevity further validates the utility of these rare individuals for the study of factors that delay or prevent a broad spectrum of diseases otherwise associated with mortality and disability.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.|Institute for Aging Research, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: Khadija
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nussbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sebastiani
authors.affiliation: Geriatrics Section, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Boston University and Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Stacy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Geriatrics Section, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Boston University and Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Perls
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.|Institute for Aging Research, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barzilai
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.|Institute for Aging Research, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York.
authors.forename: Sofiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Milman
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000369:Aged, 80 and over / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States
keywords: compression of morbidity; health span; longevity; older adults