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Health status and 6 years survival of 552 90+ Italian sib-ships recruited within the EU Project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Ageing)

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Abstract

In a scenario of increasing life expectancy worldwide, it is mandatory to identify the characteristics of a healthy aging phenotype, including survival predictors, and to disentangle those related to environment/lifestyle versus those related to familiarity/genetics. To this aim we comprehensively characterised a cohort of 1,160 Italian subjects of 90 years and over (90+, mean age 93 years; age range 90–106 years) followed for 6 years survival, belonging to 552 sib-ships (familiar longevity) recruited (2005–2008) within the EU-funded GEHA project in three Italian geographic areas (Northern, Central and Southern Italy) different for urban/rural and socio-economical characteristics. On the whole, the following factors emerged as significant predictors of survival after 90 years of age: absence of cognitive impairment and physical disability, high hand grip strength scores and body mass index (BMI) values, “excellent/good” self-reported health, high haemoglobin and total cholesterol levels and low creatinine levels. These parameters, excluding BMI values, were also significantly associated within sib-ships, suggesting a strong familial/genetic component. Geographical micro-heterogeneity of survival predictors emerged, such as functional and physical status being more important in Southern than in Central and Northern Italy. In conclusion, we identified modifiable survival predictors related to specific domains, whose role and importance vary according to the geographic area considered and which can help in interpreting the genetic results obtained by the GEHA project, whose major aim is the comprehensive evaluation of phenotypic and genetic data.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this article has been funded by the EU GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Ageing) Project contract no. LSHM-CT-2004-503-270.

The Geha Project Consortium includes: Vladyslav Bezrukov (Institute of Gerontology, Kiev, Ucraine), Hélené Blanché (Centre Polymorphisme Humaine, Fondation Jean Dausset, Paris, France), Lars Bolund (Beijing Genomics Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China), Kaare Christensen (Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark), Luca Deiana (University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy), Efsthatios Gonos (National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece), Antti Hervonen (Laboratory of Gerontology, Tampere School of Public Health, Tampere, Finland), Tom B. L. Kirkwood (School of Clinical Medical Sciences, Gerontology “Henry Wellcome”, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Peter Kristensen (University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark), Alberta Leon (Research & Innovation Soc.Coop. s.r.l., Padova, Italy), Pier Giuseppe Pelicci (IFOM-Fondazione Istituto FIRC di Oncologia Molecolare, Milano, Italy), Markus Perola (National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland), Michel Poulain (Research Centre of Demographic Management for Public Administrations, UCL-GéDAP, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium), Irene M. Rea (The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast, UK), Josè Remacle (Eppendorf Array Technologies, SA-EAT Research and Development, Namur, Belgium), Jean Marie Robine (University of Montpellier, Val d’Aurelle Cancer Research Center, Montpellier, France), Stefan Schreiber (Kiel Center for Functional Genomics, University Hospital Schleswig Holstein, Kiel, Germany), Ewa Sikora (Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland), P. Eline Slagboom (Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands), Liana Spazzafumo (INRCA-Italian National Research Centre on Aging, Ancona, Italy), Olivier Toussaint (Facultés Universitaire Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium) and James W. Vaupel (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. C.I.G.—Interdepartmental Centre “L. Galvani”, University of Bologna, Piazza di Porta San Donato 1, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    E. Cevenini, M. G. Palmas, M. Capri & C. Franceschi

  2. DIMES—Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, 40138, Bologna, Italy

    E. Cevenini, M. G. Palmas, M. Capri & C. Franceschi

  3. National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Rome, Italy

    R. Cotichini, M. A. Stazi & V. Toccaceli

  4. IFC—Institute of Clinical Physiology, CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    R. Cotichini

  5. Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science, University of Calabria, 87036, Rende, Italy

    F. De Rango, S. Dato & G. Passarino

  6. Epidemiology, Danish Ageing Research Center, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    B. Jeune

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  1. E. Cevenini
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  2. R. Cotichini
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  7. F. De Rango
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  8. S. Dato
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  9. G. Passarino
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  10. B. Jeune
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  11. C. Franceschi
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the GEHA Project Consortium

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Correspondence to C. Franceschi.

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Membership of the GEHA Project Consortium is provided in the Acknowledgments.

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Cevenini, E., Cotichini, R., Stazi, M.A. et al. Health status and 6 years survival of 552 90+ Italian sib-ships recruited within the EU Project GEHA (GEnetics of Healthy Ageing). AGE 36, 949–966 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-013-9604-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-013-9604-1

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