Associations of cardiovascular biomarkers and plasma albumin with exceptional survival to the highest ages

Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 30;11(1):3820. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17636-0.

Abstract

Supercentenarians (those aged ≥110 years) are approaching the current human longevity limit by preventing or surviving major illness. Identifying specific biomarkers conducive to exceptional survival might provide insights into counter-regulatory mechanisms against aging-related disease. Here, we report associations between cardiovascular disease-related biomarkers and survival to the highest ages using a unique dataset of 1,427 oldest individuals from three longitudinal cohort studies, including 36 supercentenarians, 572 semi-supercentenarians (105-109 years), 288 centenarians (100-104 years), and 531 very old people (85-99 years). During follow-up, 1,000 participants (70.1%) died. Overall, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), interleukin-6, cystatin C and cholinesterase are associated with all-cause mortality independent of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and plasma albumin. Of these, low NT-proBNP levels are statistically associated with a survival advantage to supercentenarian age. Only low albumin is associated with high mortality across age groups. These findings expand our knowledge on the biology of human longevity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Aging / blood*
  • Aging / physiology
  • Biomarkers / blood*
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / blood
  • Cardiovascular Diseases / diagnosis
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Longevity / physiology
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Natriuretic Peptide, Brain / blood*
  • Peptide Fragments / blood*
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Factors
  • Serum Albumin / analysis*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / statistics & numerical data*
  • Survival Analysis

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Serum Albumin
  • pro-brain natriuretic peptide (1-76)
  • Natriuretic Peptide, Brain