Long, healthy life tends to run in some families

Long, healthy life tends to run in some families, and researchers on a project supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) want to learn more about the factors that contribute to it.

The Long Life Family Study (LLFS), developed by the NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA), is now recruiting families to participate in this study.

This study will be conducted by researchers at three sites in the United States and one in Denmark. Potential U.S. participants will be recruited from areas close to the LLFS study centers at Columbia University in New York City, the University of Pittsburgh and Boston University. Potential Danish participants will be recruited by researchers at the University of Southern Denmark, using information from the Danish National Population Registry. Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will act as the Data Management and Coordinating Center.

LLFS researchers are seeking a large number of families with several long-lived members for this study and are particularly interested in hearing from families with at least two living members aged 80 years or older and their living children who reside near the study site locations of Pittsburgh, Boston or New York. Trained clinical staff members will meet with study participants to ask questions about their family and health history and conduct some performance and physical assessments. Study participants will also be asked for a small blood sample to obtain genetic information to help determine the role that genes might play in long healthy survival, in addition to many other factors.

“Other studies have indicated that longevity tends to run in families. The planned LLFS is designed to determine the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to longevity and to the ability to escape diseases normally associated with aging such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, stroke and heart disease,” said Richard J. Hodes, M.D., NIA director.

Winifred K. Rossi, deputy director of NIA’s Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology Program and the NIA program official for the five-year, $18 million project said, “Families are often very proud of their long-lived relatives. This study will provide the opportunity for long-lived families to share information about their lives that contributes to their long and healthy survival. The knowledge gained from these families can help us understand what makes them unique and can lead to scientific insights to help other people improve the length of time they spend in good health.” The scientific results of the study will be made public once the information obtained is analyzed, said Rossi. The privacy of study participants and their information will be carefully protected, she emphasized.