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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Parents Who Live Long Lives Endow Children with
Lower Cardiovascular Risks
Framingham Study finds less high
blood pressure, high cholesterol
 March 23, 2007 If we could have chosen our
parents, we could have reduced our risk of cardiovascular disease.
People whose parents live longer are more likely to avoid developing
high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other risk factors for
cardiovascular disease in middle age than their peers, say researchers
from the long-standing Framingham Heart Study. They also found that the
risk factor advantages persisted over time.
According to the researchers, this is the first
study to examine cardiovascular risk factors in the offspring of
longer-lived individuals using independent and validated measurements of
risk. The findings are consistent with other studies that have linked
lower cardiovascular risk with parental longevity based on self-reports
of family history.
"Characteristics of Framingham Offspring
Participants with Long-Lived Parents, appears in the March 12 issue of
the Archives of Internal Medicine. The FHS is a program of the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of
Health.
In the study, researchers examined 1,697 offspring
age 30 and older (average age 40) whose parents participated in the
original FHS and had reached age 85 or died before January 1, 2005.
They compared cardiovascular risk factors among the
offspring based on whether both parents, one parent, or neither parent
lived to 85 years or older. The risk factors included age, sex,
education, cigarette smoking, blood pressure, cholesterol, and body mass
index (BMI). In addition, they compared the offsprings' Framingham Risk
Scores, a summary score based on the combined contribution of
traditional cardiovascular risk factors.
In general, the group in which both parents
survived to age 85 had significantly fewer participants with high blood
pressure or who were current smokers, compared to those in which both
parents or one parent had died.
In addition, the middle-aged children of long-lived
parents had significantly lower levels of blood pressure and blood
cholesterol, and they had lower Framingham Risk Scores than those in
which one or both parents had died.
Overall, parental longevity did not significantly
affect BMI. After 12 years of follow up, the offspring of longer-lived
parents were also less likely to progress to high blood pressure and to
generate higher risk scores, the researchers report.
NHLBI's Framingham Heart Study has studied the
health of many of the Massachusetts towns residents since 1948. The
community-based research program has been the source of key research
findings regarding the contributions of hypertension, high cholesterol,
cigarette smoking, and other risk factors to the development of
cardiovascular disease.
Now assessing a third generation of participants,
Framingham Heart Study investigators are expanding their research into
other areas such as the role of genetic factors in cardiovascular
disease as well as the use of novel biomarkers and new diagnostic tests
to identify individuals at high risk.
Daniel Levy, M.D., Director of the Framingham Heart
Study, and other FHS investigators are available to comment on the
study's findings as well as how modifiable risk factors can lower
cardiovascular disease risk.
Resources:
Framingham Heart Study,
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/framingham/index.html
Your Guide to a Healthy Heart,
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/your_guide/healthyheart.htm
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and
supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and
treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep
disorders. The Institute also administers national health education
campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and
other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available
online at
www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) The
Nation's Medical Research Agency includes 27 Institutes and Centers
and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic,
clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the
causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For
more information about NIH and its programs, visit
www.nih.gov.
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