Kulminski Alexander M, Arbeev Konstantin G, Culminskaya Irina V, Ukraintseva Svetlana V, Christensen Kaare, Yashin Anatoli I
Center for Population Health and Aging, Duke University Population Research Institute, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009 Jan;64(1):1-8. doi: 10.1093/gerona/gln051. Epub 2009 Feb 10.
Aging studies can be facilitated by refocusing from longevity phenotypes to their proxies (intermediate phenotypes). Robust selection of the intermediate phenotypes requires data on such phenotypes and life span measured in the same individuals, which is not always the case in aging studies. A promising approach is to select intermediate phenotypes using information on longevity measured in related individuals. We evaluated feasibility of this approach focusing on 32 geriatric diseases as potential intermediate phenotypes of longevity assessed in the Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins. Our analyses reveal that geriatric diseases measured in some family members can predict life span in the other family members both individually and cumulatively ensuring that this approach for selection of intermediate phenotypes is feasible. The cumulative-trait approach is more promising for such studies compared with the individual-trait approach. Heritable health dimensions contributing to a decrease of life span have sex-insensitive and sex-specific components.
通过从长寿表型重新聚焦到其替代指标（中间表型），可以促进衰老研究。稳健地选择中间表型需要在同一批个体中测量此类表型和寿命的数据，但衰老研究中并非总是如此。一种有前景的方法是利用在相关个体中测量的长寿信息来选择中间表型。我们以32种老年疾病作为丹麦双胞胎老龄化纵向研究中评估的长寿潜在中间表型，评估了这种方法的可行性。我们的分析表明，在一些家庭成员中测量的老年疾病能够单独或累积地预测其他家庭成员的寿命，这确保了这种选择中间表型的方法是可行的。与个体性状方法相比，累积性状方法在这类研究中更具前景。导致寿命缩短的可遗传健康维度具有性别不敏感和性别特异性成分。
