Siblings of Okinawan Centenarians Share Lifelong Mortality Advantages

TLDR

Okinawa, an isolated island prefecture of Japan, has one of the highest prevalences of exceptionally long‑lived individuals worldwide. The study hypothesizes that genes conferring a familial survival advantage cluster among Okinawan centenarians. The authors analyzed pedigrees of 348 centenarian families (1,142 siblings) and compared sibling survival to the 1890 Okinawan general population cohort. Centenarian siblings in Okinawa had about half the mortality of birth‑cohort matched peers, a sustained advantage that grew with age, giving females a 2.58‑fold and males a 5.43‑fold higher likelihood of reaching 90, supporting a strong familial component to exceptional longevity.

Abstract

Okinawa, an isolated island prefecture of Japan, has among the highest prevalence of exceptionally long-lived individuals in the world; therefore, we hypothesized that, within this population, genes that confer a familial survival advantage might have clustered. We analyzed the pedigrees of 348 centenarian families with 1142 siblings and compared sibling survival with that of the 1890 Okinawan general population cohort. Both male and female centenarian siblings experienced approximately half the mortality of their birth cohort–matched counterparts. This mortality advantage was sustained and did not diminish with age in contrast to many environmentally based mortality gradients, such as education and income. Cumulative survival advantages for this centenarian sibling cohort increased over the life span such that female centenarian siblings had a 2.58-fold likelihood, and male siblings a 5.43-fold likelihood, versus their birth cohorts, of reaching the age of 90 years. These data support a significant familial component to exceptional human longevity.