Sex and Age Specificity of Susceptibility Genes Modulating Survival at Old Age

Objective: We aimed to investigate the influence of the genetic variability of candidate genes on survival at old age in good health. Methods: First, on the basis of a synthetic survival curve constructed using historic mortality data taken from the Italian population from 1890 onward, we defined th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human heredity 2006-01, Vol.62 (4), p.213-220
Main Authors: Passarino, Giuseppe, Montesanto, Alberto, Dato, Serena, Giordano, Sabrina, Domma, Filippo, Mari, Vincenzo, Feraco, Emidio, De Benedictis, Giovanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Distribution
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - genetics
Female
Gender differences
Genetic Predisposition to Disease - epidemiology
Genotype & phenotype
Health
Humans
Logistic Models
Longevity - genetics
Male
Middle Aged
Original Paper
Sex Characteristics
Survival analysis
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Summary:Objective: We aimed to investigate the influence of the genetic variability of candidate genes on survival at old age in good health. Methods: First, on the basis of a synthetic survival curve constructed using historic mortality data taken from the Italian population from 1890 onward, we defined three age classes ranging from 18 to 106 years. Second, we assembled a multinomial logistic regression model to evaluate the effect of dichotomous variables (genotypes) on the probability to be assigned to a specific category (age class). Third, we applied the regression model to a cross-sectional dataset (10 genes; 972 subjects selected for healthy status) categorized according to age and sex. Results: We found that genetic factors influence survival at advanced age in good health in a sex- and age-specific way. Furthermore, we found that genetic variability plays a stronger role in males than in females and that, in both genders, its impact is especially important at very old ages. Conclusions: The analyses presented here underline the age-specific effect of the gene network in modulating survival at advanced age in good health.
ISSN:0001-5652
1423-0062
DOI:10.1159/000097305