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Longevity Studies in GenomEUtwin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Axel Skytthe ,
Nancy L. Pedersen ,
Jaakko Kaprio ,
Maria Antonietta Stazi ,
Jacob v.B. Hjelmborg ,
Ivan Iachine ,
James W. Vaupel  and
Kaare Christensen
Axel Skytthe
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Nancy L. Pedersen
Affiliation:
The Swedish Twin Registry, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jaakko Kaprio
Affiliation:
The Finnish Twin Cohort Study, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Maria Antonietta Stazi
Affiliation:
The Italian Twin Registry, Instituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italia.
Jacob v.B. Hjelmborg
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Ivan Iachine
Affiliation:
The Department of Statistics, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
James W. Vaupel
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Kaare Christensen*
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. [email protected]
*
*Address for correspondence: Kaare Christensen, Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Sdr. Boulevard 23A, DK-5000 Odense C, Denmark.

Abstract

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Previous twin studies have indicated that approximately 25% of the variation in life span can be attributed to genetic factors and recent studies have also suggested a moderate clustering of extreme longevity within families. Here we discuss various definitions of extreme longevity and some analytical approaches with special attention to the challenges due to censored data. Lexis diagrams are provided for the Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, and Swedish Twin registries hereby outlining possibilities for longevity studies within GenomEUtwin. We extend previous analyses of lifespan for the Danish 1870–1900 twin cohorts to include the new 1901–1910 cohorts, which are consistent with the previous findings. The size of the twin cohorts in GenomEUtwin and the existence of population-based, nationwide health and death registers make epidemiological studies of longevity very powerful. The combined GenomEUtwin sample will also allow detailed age-specific heritability analyses of lifespan. Finally, it will provide a resource for identifying unusual sibships (i.e., dizygotic twin pairs) where both survived to extreme ages, as a basis for discovering genetic variants of importance for extreme survival.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 6 , Issue 5 , 01 October 2003 , pp. 448 - 454
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003