UMMS Affiliation
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Date
11-17-2009
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Age Factors; Cohort Studies; *Family; Humans; *Longevity; Sex Factors; Siblings
Disciplines
Biostatistics | Epidemiology | Health Services Research
Abstract
Family studies of exceptional longevity can potentially identify genetic and other factors contributing to long life and healthy aging. Although such studies seek families that are exceptionally long lived, they also need living members who can provide DNA and phenotype information. On the basis of these considerations, the authors developed a metric to rank families for selection into a family study of longevity. Their measure, the family longevity selection score (FLoSS), is the sum of 2 components: 1) an estimated family longevity score built from birth-, gender-, and nation-specific cohort survival probabilities and 2) a bonus for older living siblings. The authors examined properties of FLoSS-based family rankings by using data from 3 ongoing studies: the New England Centenarian Study, the Framingham Heart Study, and screenees for the Long Life Family Study. FLoSS-based selection yields families with exceptional longevity, satisfactory sibship sizes and numbers of living siblings, and high ages. Parameters in the FLoSS formula can be tailored for studies of specific populations or age ranges or with different conditions. The first component of the FLoSS also provides a conceptually sound survival measure to characterize exceptional longevity in individuals or families in various types of studies and correlates well with later-observed longevity.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: Am J Epidemiol. 2009 Dec 15;170(12):1555-62. Epub 2009 Nov 12. Link to article on publisher's site
