Living Longer

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Living Longer

• Ageing Well
• Dr Maeve Rea
• Department of Geriatric Medicine
• i.rea_at_qub.ac.uk

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Nonagenarian Numbers are growing
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Life Expectancy across World
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In proportional terms, gains in life expectancy
will be higher at older ages
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Northern IrelandNonagenarians
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Projected Populations -2044
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What do we know about Nonagenarians?
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The older you get the sicker you get ?Is
this true?
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What is the Evidence?
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OKINAWA Study

• 25 year study of the worlds longest-lived
  population
• Largest number of centenarians in the world
• Equal numbers of males and females

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Okinawa Study

• Young arteries (cholesterol lt4 umols/l)
• Diet with lots of fresh vegetables
• Exercise in abundance
• Good family and social support

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The Danish 1905 Cohort Survey

• 2,262 Nonagenarians
• Functional Status and Self-Rated Health

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Danish 1905 CohortActivities of Daily Living
Scale

• 50 men
• 41 women were not disabled
• 19 men
• 22 women were severely disabled

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Perls Boston Study

• 350 centenarians
• Time to onset of age-related diseases
• Three profiles emerged from their health history

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Survivors, Delayers, Escapers

• survivors, 42
• delayers, 45
• escapers, 13

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Which factors which contribute to
successful ageing
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BELFAST Elderly Subjects

• 250 apparently well nonagenarian subjects were
  recruited as part of the Belfast Elderly
  Longitudinal Free-living Aging STudy (BELFAST)
• Aged 90-103 years, Living at home
• Mentally well (Folstein gt27/30)

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Cardiovascular risk and successful ageing
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Weight
Mean Male Female Weight 56.7
60.5 56.2 kg
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Blood Pressure
MEAN MALE FEMALE
Systolic 131.2 130.0 132.5 mmHg Diastol
ic 88.2 85.8 88.8 mmHg
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Conclusions

• in BELFAST study
• nonagenarians in the upper range for weight and
  BMI were 40 more likely to have BP in
  hypertensive range compared to those with the
  lower weights

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Smokers

Few
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Immunology and successful ageing
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Natural Killer Cellsin BELFAST study
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Gunships of the Immune System
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Natural Killer Cell
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Natural Killer Cells
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CYTOKINES BELFAST inBELFASTStudy
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Cytokines out of Balance
Activating
Calming
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IL-12 activating and increasing
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Nutrition and Successful Ageing
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We are what we eat?What do Nonagenarians eat?

• 24 hour dietary recall
• Lowish in calories
• Wide range of nutrition including protein
• Often cooked food for self as had done through
  life

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What shall we eat?

• Sweet potatoes contain sirtuin, a protein
  signalling molecule that some scientists believe
  is important in delaying ageing

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Social Integration
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Genes and Successful Ageing
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ApoE Frequencies BELFAST
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Mitochondrial Haplotype J and Longevity
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Mitochondrial Tree
Ross and Rea Ireland
Debenedictis G et al Italy Neimi et al
Finland
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Genes and Longevity

• 25-30

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GEnetics of Healthy Ageing

• -3200 pairs of 90 brothers and sisters across
  Europe
• EU-funded study
• -Study to look at genes for healthy ageing
• Dr I Maeve Rea, Principal Investigator Northern
  Ireland

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Elderly Sisters
Can you help us find a sibling pair/s for
GEHA? Contact Anne, Senior Research Nurse
on 07948489197 (mobile) or 02890291350 pm or
02890972156/2153