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Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on March 22, 2009
Age and Ageing 2009 38(4):380-385; doi:10.1093/ageing/afp035
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effect of parental age at birth on the accumulation of deficits, frailty and survival in older adults

Ruth E. Hubbard, Melissa K. Andrew and Kenneth Rockwood

Geriatric Medicine Research Unit, Dalhousie University and QEII Health Sciences Centre, 5955 Veterans’ Memorial Lane, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 2E1, Canada

Address correspondence to: R. E. Hubbard. Tel: (+1) 902 473 3973; Fax: (+1) 902 473 1050. Email: Ruth.Hubbard{at}cdha.nshealth.ca

Introduction: parental age at conception may affect life expectancy. Adult daughters of older fathers seem to live shorter lives and, in one study, being born to a mother aged <25 was an important predictor of exceptional longevity. The effect of parental age on fitness/frailty in late life is unknown.

We aimed to investigate the relationships between parental age and frailty and longevity in older adults.

Methods: in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), data was collected on individuals aged ≥65 using a Self-Assessed Risk Factor Questionnaire and screening interview. In this secondary analysis, 5112 participants had complete data for parental age, frailty status and 10-year survival. Parental age was divided into three groups, with cut-offs at 25 and 45 for fathers and at 25 and 40 for mothers. Frailty was defined by an index of deficits. Survival was analysed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression with analyses adjusted for subject's age, sex and age of the other parent.

Results: mean maternal age at subject's birth was 29.2y (SD 6.8) and mean paternal age 33.3y (SD 7.8). There was no effect of maternal or paternal age on survival for either sons or daughters. Similarly, there was no association between parental age and subject frailty in old age.

Conclusion: we did not identify an association between parental age and frailty or longevity in older adult participants in the CSHA.

Keywords: frail elderly, longevity, parents

Received 20 June 2008; accepted in revised form 19 November 2008.


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