Parental longevity and polygenic longevity scores in relation to ageing-related factors in a population of 70-year-olds followed over six years: The Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Study

As societies age, a deeper understanding of ageing-related factors that contribute to longevity is needed. We therefore investigated possible longevity factors (social, medical, and biological) in relation to parental longevity (PL) and polygenic longevity scores (PGLSs). We examined 1126 70-year-olds from the Swedish population-based Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort study in 2014-2016 (response rate 72%), with follow-up in 2019-2022 (response rate 77.6%). Comprehensive examinations included self-reported information on parents' ages, socioeconomic factors, mental, cardiovascular, and neurological health, anthropometry, laboratory data, and genotyping to construct two continuous PGLSs variables (with and without the APOE locus). PL groups were categorised as high if both parents survived to age 85 (17.2%); medium if one parent had survived (43.3%), and low if neither parent had survived to age 85 (39.4%). Higher PL and higher PGLSs were related to less hypertension, higher educational level, better childhood, and current socioeconomic status. In addition, higher PL was associated with higher MMSE score, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol (HDL-c) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c), lower BMI, homocysteine and inflammatory markers (IL-6, CRP) levels, and less smoking, whereas higher PGLSs was related to less myocardial infarction. At follow-up, high-PL was associated with less increase in plasma pTau217. PGLSs were mainly related to socioeconomic and cardiovascular factors, while individuals with long-lived parents, in addition, had several other characteristics of longevity, such as less inflammation, homocysteine, and markers of dementia. PL may be a proxy for biological ageing and used as a screening for ageing-related disorders in the context of prevention.