Offspring of Parents who Live Longer Avoid Heart Problems
Reported March 13, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — If your parents live longer, you are less likely to have risk factors for heart disease.
New results from the long-standing Framingham Heart Study (FHS) reveal offspring whose parents lived to age 85 had a better shot at avoiding high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other cardiovascular risk factors in middle age than those whose parents died younger.
Researchers studied 1,697 people ages 30 and older whose parents were in the original FHS. They compared the offsprings’ cardiovascular risk factors based on whether or not both parents, one parent, or neither parent lived to or older than 85. Risk factors included age, sex, education, cigarette smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index (BMI).
In general, the study revealed the group in which both parents survived to 85 years old had much fewer participants with high blood pressure or current smokers than groups in which both or one parent had died. They also had much lower levels of blood pressure and cholesterol. After 12 years of follow up, the offspring of parents who lived longer were less likely to develop high blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors. Results show, overall, parental longevity did not significantly affect BMI.
FHS is a program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. It has studied the health of many Framingham, Mass., town residents since 1948, providing key research findings about how hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking and other risk factors contribute to heart disease.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2007;167:438-444