Early Life Biodemographic Influences on Exceptional Longevity: Parental Age at Person's Birth and the Month of Birth Are Important Predictors

Leonid A. Gavrilov, University of Chicago
Natalia S. Gavrilova, University of Chicago

This study explores effects of parental age at person's birth and the month of birth on chances of survival to age 100. We have developed and analyzed a new computerized database on 1,711 validated centenarians from the United States, as well as their shorter-lived siblings (5,778) as controls. Comparison of siblings’ characteristics was made within families (rather than between families) using method of conditional logistic regression. We found significant effects of young maternal age at person's birth on survival to age 100 with particularly strong positive influence at maternal age 20-24 years. Effect of young mother is particularly prominent in smaller families, which is important taking into account a smaller family size in contemporary population. Persons born in September-November had higher chances to become a centenarian, compared to their siblings born in other months. The study was supported by NIA (grant AG028620).