Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29349272›Full record

ArticleSSM - population health2018

Why is parental lifespan linked to children's chances of reaching a high age? A transgenerational hypothesis.

Denny Vågerö, Vanda Aronsson, Bitte Modin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in SSM - population health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. The family dynamics of children on the streets of Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2023
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Denny VågeröCHESS, Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Vanda AronssonCHESS, Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Bitte ModinCHESS, Centre for Health Equity Studies, Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeTransgenerational determinants of longevity are poorly understood. We used data from four linked generations (G0, G1, G2 and G3) of the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigeneration Study to address this issue.

methodsMortality in G1 (N = 9565) was followed from 1961-2015 and analysed in relation to tertiles of their parents' (G0) age-at-death using Cox regression. Parental social class and marital status were adjusted for in the analyses, as was G1's birth order and adult social class. For an almost entirely deceased segment of G1 (n = 1149), born 1915-1917, we compared exact age-at-death with G0 parents' age-at-death. Finally, we explored 'resilience' as a potentially important mechanism for intergenerational transmission of longevity, using conscript information from psychological interviews of G2 and G3 men.

resultsG0 men's and women's ages-at-death were independently associated with G1 midlife and old age mortality. This association was robust and minimally reduced when G0 and G1 social class were adjusted for. We observed an increased lifespan in all social groups. Median difference in age-at-death for sons compared to fathers was + 3.9 years, and + 6.9 years for daughters compared to mothers.Parents' and maternal grandmother's longevity were associated with resilience in subsequent generations. Resilience scores of G2 men were also associated with those of their G3 sons and with their own mortality in midlife.

conclusionsThe chance of reaching a high age is transmitted from parents to children in a modest, but robust way. Longevity inheritance is paralleled by the inheritance of individual resilience. Individual resilience, we propose, develops in the first part of life as a response to adversity and early experience in general. This gives rise to a transgenerational pathway, distinct from social class trajectories. A theory of longevity inheritance should bring together previous thinking around general susceptibility, frailty and resilience with new insights from epigenetics and social epidemiology.

Indexed as

EpigeneticsLifespanLongevityResilienceSusceptibilityTransgenerational

Identifiers

PMID29349272
PMCPMC5769101

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.