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Cited by 207Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model OrganismsGenetic Associations and EpidemiologyTelomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence

The Genetics of Extreme Longevity: Lessons from the New England Centenarian Study

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Sebastiani, Paola, Perls, Thomas T.·2012·Frontiers in Genetics
DOI 10.3389/fgene.2012.00277PMC PMC3510428
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Abstract

The New England Centenarian Study (NECS) was founded in 1994 as a longitudinal study of centenarians to determine if centenarians could be a model of healthy human aging. Over time, the NECS along with other centenarian studies have demonstrated that the majority of centenarians markedly delay high mortality risk-associated diseases toward the ends of their lives, but many centenarians have a history of enduring more chronic age-related diseases for many years, women more so than men. However, the majority of centenarians seem to deal with these chronic diseases more effectively, not experiencing disability until well into their nineties. Unlike most centenarians who are less than 101 years old, people who live to the most extreme ages, e.g., 107+ years, are generally living proof of the compression of morbidity hypothesis. That is, they compress morbidity and disability to the very ends of their lives. Various studies have also demonstrated a strong familial component to extreme longevity and now evidence particularly from the NECS is revealing an increasingly important genetic component to survival to older and older ages beyond 100 years. It appears to us that this genetic component consists of many genetic modifiers each with modest effects, but as a group they can have a strong influence.

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  • Environmental exposures-including access to green spaces-play a dominant role in shaping aging trajectories.

    “While genetic factors account for only 15–40% of lifespan variability [28,29,30,31,32], environmental exposures—including access to green spaces—play a dominant role in shaping aging trajectories.”

    From The Power of Environment: A Comprehensive Review of the Exposome's Role in Healthy Aging, Longevity, and Preventive Medicine-Lessons from Blue Zones and Cilento (2025) · cites this paper as [31]

    The ‘Evidence for a Strong Familiality of Exceptional Longevity’ section (page unavailable) reports that genetic variation accounts for 20–30% of variability in living to the mid-eighties, not the cited 15–40% range for lifespan variability generally. It also cautions that this estimate should not be applied to exceptional longevity. The citation is attached to the genetic-percentage clause; the sentence’s later reference to green spaces is not specifically attributed to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Genetic factors account for only 15-40% of lifespan variability.

    “While genetic factors account for only 15–40% of lifespan variability [28,29,30,31,32], environmental exposures—including access to green spaces—play a dominant role in shaping aging trajectories.”

    From The Power of Environment: A Comprehensive Review of the Exposome's Role in Healthy Aging, Longevity, and Preventive Medicine-Lessons from Blue Zones and Cilento (2025) · cites this paper as [31]

    In “Evidence for a Strong Familiality of Exceptional Longevity” (page unavailable), the paper reports that genetic variation accounts for 20–30% of variability in living to the mid-80s. That supports a limited version of the claim, but not the stated 15–40% range or its application to lifespan variability generally; the paper explicitly cautions against extending the estimate to exceptional longevity. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cites

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Sebastiani, P., & Perls, T. T.
Affiliations
Boston University (US)
ORCID
Perls, Thomas T.
Venue
Frontiers in Genetics
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2012
Volume
3
Pages
277-277
ISSN
1664-8021 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fgene.2012.00277
PMC
PMC3510428
OpenAlex
W2078120857
Cited by
207
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 7
FWCI
3.85
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Genetics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (AG 023122, U01AG023755, U19AG023122)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R21HL114237)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
Keywords
exceptional longevity, centenarians, compression of morbidity, genetic modifiers, familial longevity, age-related diseases, disability, sex differences

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