(Press-News.org) For the past 50 years, researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy have followed the health of 855 Gothenburg men born in 1913. Now that the study is being wrapped up, it turns out that ten of the subjects lived to 100 and conclusions can be drawn about the secrets of their longevity.
Over the past half century, the University Gothenburg has hosted one of the world's first prospective studies of aging. The subjects are 855 Gothenburg men born in 1913.
The first surveys were conducted in 1963.Now that it has been determined that ten of the men lived to 100, the study is being wrapped up.
Promotes longevity
Various surveys at the age of 54, 60, 65, 75, 80 and 100 permitted the researchers to consider the factors that appear to promote longevity.
A total of 27% (232) of the original group lived to the age of 80 and 13% (111) to 90. All in all, 1.1% of the subjects made it to their 100th birthday.
According to the study, 42% of deaths after the age of 80 were due to cardiovascular disease, 20% to infectious diseases, 8% to stroke, 8% to cancer, 6% to pneumonia and 16% to other causes.
A total of 23% of the over-80 group were diagnosed with some type of dementia.
Unique design
"The unique design has enabled us to identify the factors that influence survival after the age of 50," says Lars Wilhelmsen, who has been involved in the study for the past 50 years. "Our recommendation for people who aspire to centernarianism is to refrain from smoking, maintain healthy cholesterol levels and confine themselves to four cups of coffee a day."
Correlation with the mother´s age
It also helps if you paid a high rent for a flat or owing a house at age 50 (indicating good socio-econmic standard), enjoy robust working capacity at a bicycle test when you are 54 and have a mother who lived for a long time.
"Our findings that there is a correlation with maternal but not paternal longevity are fully consistent with a previous studies," Dr. Wilhelmsen says. "Given that the same associations have been demonstrated in Hawaii, the genetic factor appears to be a strong one." But still we found that this "genetic factor" was weaker than the other factors. So factors that can be influenced are important for a long life.
No smokers
Two of the 100-year-olds dropped out of the study due to dementia and one for personal reasons. Facts about the other seven:
Two lived at home and five in assisted living facilities
None of them smoked
All of them exhibited good temporal and spatial cognition
All of them wore hearing aids
Most of them wore glasses, were able to read and watch TV
All of them were slim and had good postures
All of them used walkers
"Normally we conducted the surveys at hospitals, but we visited the seven centenarians at home," Dr. Wilhelmsen says. all of them were clinically healthy, satisfied with their circumstances and pleased to be living where they were."
INFORMATION:
Original publication: Men born in 1913 followed to age 100 years. By Wilhelmsen L, Dellborg M, Welin L, Svärdsudd K. Published in Scandinavian Cardiovascular Journal.
Link to abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25658252
For additional information, feel free to contact:
Lars Wilhelmsen, Professor Emeritus at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg
lars.wilhelmsen@gu.se
A new research report appearing in the May 2015 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that allergic reactions--or at least the pre-existing inflammation from these reactions--may set the stage for cancer to spread from one area to another. Specifically, the report uses mice to show that inflammation raises the level of a known biomarker of cancer, called "chitinase-3-like-1" or "CHI3L1," in the inflamed tissue, which leads to increased metastasis and faster cancer growth in that tissue.
"The research we have done is striking in that we showed pre-existing ...
Together with clinical partners, a team led by Dr. Dr. Melanie Königshoff and the doctoral student Franziska Uhl at the Comprehensive Pneumology Center of Helmholtz Zentrum München have investigated, for the first time, the suitability of Wnt/beta-catenin
activation to initiate repair in patient-derived COPD lung tissue. To achieve this, the researchers used a variety of chemical, biological and imaging techniques.
"In our study we showed that activation of the Wnt / beta-catenin ** - signaling pathway induces lung tissue repair, depending on the patient's ...
Scientists moved a step closer toward coaxing the body into producing its own replacement blood vessels after discovering that suppressing parts of the innate immune system may raise the chances of a tissue engineered vascular graft's success. In a report appearing in the May 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal scientists showed that by controlling the reaction that natural killer cells, platelets and the acute inflammatory response have to the graft, they could also reduce the abnormal narrowing of the grafts, called stenosis, which is the cause of most failures. This discovery ...
In research report published in the May 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal, scientists report that a particular class of pesticides called "neonicotinoids" wreaks havoc on the bee populations, ultimately putting some crops that rely on pollination in jeopardy. Specifically, these pesticides kill bee brain cells, rendering them unable to learn, gather food and reproduce. The report, however, also suggests that the effects of these pesticides on bee colonies may be reversible by decreasing or eliminating the use of these pesticides on plants pollenated by bees and increasing ...
A team of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich has identified the first fossil specimens of a major group of killifishes that is widely distributed in freshwater habitats today. The 6-million-year-old material sheds new light on the evolution of the bony fishes.
Killifish are true survivors. These colorful little fish are perfectly adapted to the demands of their ephemeral habitats. They spend their short lives in temporary freshwater pools that form during the rainy season, and owe their long-term survival to the fact that their eggs are resistant to desiccation. ...
Researchers from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich demonstrate for the first time that bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) carry genetic instructions for proteins that mediate the transport of their DNA to specialized replication sites in the host cell.
Viruses are essentially inert nucleoprotein particles that come alive only when they find the right host cells, on which they depend for their reproduction. Bacteriophages (or 'phages' for short) are viruses that infect bacteria. Work carried out by researchers led by Marc Bramkamp, who is Professor of Microbiology ...
Chicago, April 30, 2015 - Using fresh whole blood from single donors is better than using component blood from multiple donors in pediatric heart surgery patients, according to an article in the May 2015 issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
Key points
Fresh whole blood reduces the number of individual blood donors that pediatric heart patients are exposed to, which reduces the risk of acquiring transfusion-related illness.
Study results show the youngest patients having complex procedures were exposed to the highest number of donors, while older patients having ...
Researchers of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have carried out the first detailed study of the molecular mechanisms responsible for formation of the brachiopod shell. Comparison with shell synthesis in other groups reveals the deep evolutionary roots of the process.
Brachiopods (lamp shells) are marine invertebrates, which were a highly successful and widespread group in the Palaeozoic era. Indeed, the group is best known for its rich fossil record. Some 30,000 fossil species have been described so far, and the oldest specimens date from Cambrian times, ...
April 30, 2015 - After common plastic surgery procedures, obese patients have more complications and make more hospital visits--leading to higher healthcare costs, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Even after accounting for their higher rate of other medical conditions, "Overweight and obese patients remained 35 percent more likely to have an emergency department visit or hospital admission within 30 days of surgery," report Michelle R. Sieffert, ...
April 30, 2015 - Have you ever dreamed of taking fat from one area where you had a little too much, and transferring to somewhere you wanted a little more? A Brazilian plastic surgery team has done just that, using a combined liposuction and fat grafting technique to augment and enhance the buttocks, reports a study in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Rodrigo Gouvea Rosique, MD, PhD, of Master Hospital of Plastic Surgery in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, and colleagues ...
