Genetic variants linked to education predict longevity
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(Published version)
Date
2016
Authors
Marioni, R.E.
Ritchie, S.J.
Joshi, P.K.
Hagenaars, S.P.
Hypponen, E.
Benjamin, D.J.
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Journal article
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016; 113(47):13366-13371
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Abstract
Educational attainment is associated with many health outcomes, including longevity. It is also known to be substantially heritable. Here, we used data from three large genetic epidemiology cohort studies (Generation Scotland, n = ∼17,000; UK Biobank, n = ∼115,000; and the Estonian Biobank, n = ∼6,000) to test whether education-linked genetic variants can predict lifespan length. We did so by using cohort members' polygenic profile score for education to predict their parents' longevity. Across the three cohorts, meta-analysis showed that a 1 SD higher polygenic education score was associated with ∼2.7% lower mortality risk for both mothers (total n deaths = 79,702) and ∼2.4% lower risk for fathers (total n deaths = 97,630). On average, the parents of offspring in the upper third of the polygenic score distribution lived 0.55 y longer compared with those of offspring in the lower third. Overall, these results indicate that the genetic contributions to educational attainment are useful in the prediction of human longevity.
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Data source: Supporting information, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605334113
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Copyright 2016 National Academy of Sciences
Access Condition Notes: Freely available online through the PNAS open access option