Sex and age specificity of susceptibility genes modulating survival at old age

作者：Passarino Giuseppe^*; Montesanto Alberto; Dato Serena; Giordano Sabrina; Domma Filippo; Mari Vincenzo; Feraco Emidio; De Benedictis Giovanna

来源：Human Heredity, 2006, 62(4): 213-220.

DOI：10.1159/000097305

• logistic regression
• longevity
• multilocus analysis
• survival phenotype

Objective: We aimed to investigate the influence of the genetic variability of candidate genes on survival at old age in good health. Methods: First, on the basis of a synthetic survival curve constructed using historic mortality data taken from the Italian population from 1890 onward, we defined three age classes ranging from 18 to 106 years. Second, we assembled a multinomial logistic regression model to evaluate the effect of dichotomous variables (genotypes) on the probability to be assigned to a specific category (age class). Third, we applied the regression model to a cross-sectional dataset (10 genes; 972 subjects selected for healthy status) categorized according to age and sex. Results: We found that genetic factors influence survival at advanced age in good health in a sex- and age-specific way. Furthermore, we found that genetic variability plays a stronger role in males than in females and that, in both genders, its impact is especially important at very old ages. Conclusions: The analyses presented here underline the age-specific effect of the gene network in modulating survival at advanced age in good health.

• 出版日期2006