Three independent longitudinal cohorts (LonGenity, NECS, UK Biobank; combined n=4,030; follow-up up to 16–29 years) compared offspring of centenarians (at least one parent ≥100 years) with offspring of shorter-lived parents on age at death and onset of CVD, cancer, hypertension, and stroke, using Cox proportional hazards regression and meta-analysis.
Centenarians' offspring had significantly lower hazards for death (HR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.41–0.81), CVD (HR 0.67; 95% CI, 0.46–0.97), and hypertension (HR 0.68; 95% CI, 0.62–0.75), with death delayed by ~3.1 years and hypertension onset delayed by ~5.2 years; stroke benefit was seen only in LonGenity and NECS; no cancer association was found.
- Cohorts differ in enrollment criteria, follow-up duration, and covariate availability, limiting direct comparability. - Observational design cannot establish causality; residual confounding by lifestyle and socioeconomic factors is possible. - Stroke and cancer results were inconsistent across cohorts, reducing confidence in those specific findings.
Having a centenarian parent is associated with meaningfully later onset of cardiovascular disease and hypertension (by ~3–5 years) and lower mortality risk — supporting parental longevity as a useful criterion when recruiting participants for healthy-aging research. Clinicians can reassure patients with centenarian parents that their cardiovascular and longevity outlook may be meaningfully better than average.
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