The metabolic benefits of having high-longevity parents are offset by smoking

Subjects with high-longevity parents have less pathological cardiovascular risk profiles in midlife and their cardiovascular risk scores show slower progression over time. Data from a Swiss population-based sample of 1163 men and 1393 women aged 55-75 years were used to evaluate whether subjects with high-longevity parents exhibited lower levels of cardiovascular risk factors including the metabolic syndrome. Participants were stratified by the number of parents (0, 1, 2) who survived 85 years or more. Age-adjusted metabolic syndrome prevalence varied from 24.8%, 20.5% to 13.8% in women with 0, 1 and 2 high-longevity parents, respectively, the corresponding figures for men being 28.8%, 32.1%, and 27.6%. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the association between parental longevity and metabolic syndrome prevalence was particularly strong in women who never smoked. Among women who never smoked, those with 2 high-longevity parents had lower BMI and smaller waist circumference. Moreover, in never-smokers of both genders, mean adjusted HDL cholesterol levels significantly increased with the number of high-longevity parents, whereas the trend was not significant in former and current smokers. Based on these results, parental longevity was associated with a better metabolic profile in women, but not in men. The metabolic benefits of having high-longevity parents, however, appear to be offset by smoking history.

Abstract

Keywords:
BMI – HDL-C – Metabolic syndrome – Smoking – Waist circumference