New England Centenarian Study

The Centenarian Sibling Pairs Study

	Thomas Perls MD, MPH , Principal Investigator Maureen Shea, BA, Coordinator

	Overview The prevalence of centenarians in the New England Centenarian Study is approximately 1 per 10,000 and therefore, this cohort is relatively rare. We have also noted that the children of our centenarian subjects, who are in their seventies and early eighties appear young for their ages. Finally, as we collected pedigrees on our subjects we noted what we thought was an unexpectedly high prevalence of siblings who were also long-lived. Given these three observations, we thought it was quite likely that extreme longevity was more prevalent among these families compared to the general population. Technology has now emerged in the field of molecular genetics to rapidly screen the DNA of subjects for areas of genes that they may have in common. We are hopeful of locating such regions among the centenarians and their siblings. If we do locate regions that they have in common, more than likely, these regions will contain genes that determine rates of aging and susceptibility to diseases associated with aging.

	Who are we looking for? We are looking internationally for anyone age 98 years or older (no matter what their level of function is) who also has living siblings age 90 or older. If the siblings are less than age 98 years, than they must be functionally independent both physically and cognitively.

	What's in it for me? Most of our subjects come to us stating "I know old age runs in my family", but no one knows why. Though we cannot reimburse subjects for their time, we hope to eventually pay them back by answering the question: How are these families special? Furthermore, if we can discover the genes that delay aging and determine susceptibility to diseases associated with aging, we may eventually be able to slow down the aging process for others and also contribute to the fund of knowledge that will lead to a cure for age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease and stroke.

	What is involved? We will ask the subjects and/or their families for some family tree information and any proof of birth date. We will also ask for information to allow us to briefly assess the subject's cognitive and physical function and we would like a list of the subject's medications. Finally, and most importantly, we will arrange to obtain and pay for a small blood sample from each participant. The subject and their family will be sent a consent form in order to enroll in the study.

	I know siblings who may be interested in participating. What do I do? Please use the correspondence form on our Web page to contact us. If for some reason, the form does not work well for you than contact us by phone (call collect): Call us toll free at 888-333-NECS (888-333-6327).

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