ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences2024
Life-Course Pathways to Exceptional Longevity: Evidence From the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Developmental origins of exceptional health and survival: a four-generation family cohort study.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Biomarkers help us understand how cellular and systemic aging contribute to mortality: a study utilizing a machine-learning approach in the Health and Retirement Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Combinations of light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity in midlife and old age: implications for healthy cognitive aging.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Article
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5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundLongevity, a hallmark of successful aging, is a multifactorial trait with influences from birth onwards. However, limited evidence exists on the pathways linking diverse life-course exposures to longevity, especially within a single cohort.
methodsWe investigated associations between life-course factors and longevity among community-dwelling adults aged 79 (N = 547) from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 with a mortality follow-up of 24 years. Cox proportional hazards and structural equation (path) models were used to explore how factors from early life (social class, childhood intelligence quotient [IQ], education), midlife (social class), and later life (health, lifestyle, psychosocial well-being), as well as sex, personality, and apolipoprotein E e4 status, influence survival time in days.
resultsDuring follow-up (1999-2023), 538 participants (98%) died (mean age of death = 89.3 years) and 9 survived (mean age = 101.6 years). Factors associated with lower mortality risk in the multivariable Cox model were higher cognitive function (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59-0.88), better physical function (HR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.44-0.85), and greater physical activity (HR = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71-0.92), while history of cancer was associated with higher mortality risk (HR = 1.84; 95% CI: 1.22-2.77). The life-course path model identified the same direct predictors, with additional contributions from female sex and nonsmoking status, to greater longevity. Early- and midlife factors (IQ, education, social class), and emotional stability, conscientiousness, and female sex, were indirectly and positively associated with survival trajectories via multiple dimensions of adult health.
conclusionsIn understanding why people live to very old ages it is necessary to consider factors from throughout the life course, and to include demographic, psychosocial, and health variables.
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