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Abstract
Background: Better physical robustness and resilience of long-lived siblings compared to sporadic long-livers has been demonstrated in several studies. However, it is unknown whether long-lived siblings also end their lives better. Objective: To investigate end-of-life (EoL) events (dementia diagnosis, medication, hospitalizations in the last 5 years of life), causes of death, and location of death in long-lived siblings compared to matched sporadic long-livers from the Danish population. Methods: Long-lived siblings were identified through three nationwide Danish studies in which the inclusion criteria varied, but 99.5% of the families had at least two siblings surviving to age 90 + . Those who died between 2006 and 2018 were included, and randomly matched with sex, year-of-birth and age-at-death controls (i.e., sporadic long-lived controls) from the Danish population. Results: A total of 5,262 long-lived individuals were included (1,754 long-lived siblings, 3,508 controls; 63% women; median age at death 96.1). Long-lived siblings had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia in the last years of life (p = 0.027). There was no significant difference regarding the number of prescribed drugs, hospital stays, days in hospital, and location of death. Compared to controls, long-lived siblings presented a lower risk of dying from dementia (p = 0.020) and ill-defined conditions (p = 0.030). Conclusions: In many aspects long-lived siblings end their lives similar to sporadic long-livers, with the important exception of lower dementia risk during the last 5 years of life. These results suggest that long-lived siblings are excellent candidates for identifying environmental and genetic protective factors of dementia.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD |
Volume | 99 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 1397-1407 |
ISSN | 1387-2877 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- Aging
- Alzheimer’s disease
- causes of death
- dementia
- end of life events
- familial longevity
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LLFS: Long Life Family Study
Christensen, K. (Project manager), Hagelskær, A. (Coordinator), Rasmussen, K. M. (Project participant), Christensen, G. B. (Project participant), Dalgård, C. (Project participant), Hvidberg, L. (Project participant), Mortensen, J. (Project participant), Tan, Q. (Project participant), Knudsen, S. (Project participant), Nygaard, M. (Project participant), Sørensen, M. (Project participant), Larsen, L. A. (Project participant), Skytthe, S. K. (Project participant), Keys, M. T. (Project participant), Galvin, A. (Project participant) & Skouboe, C. (Project participant)
01/01/2006 → 01/04/2025
Project: Research