People who carry genes that shorten lifespan can reduce their risk of premature death by more than 60 percent if they follow a healthy lifestyle, according to the results of a large observational study led by China's Zhejiang University School of Medicine. is suggested.
As reported in BMJ Evidence-based medicineThe authors present data on 353,742 participants of European ancestry with a median follow-up of 12.86 years from various large cohort studies or biobanks (LifeGen, US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, and UK Biobank). It was used. Overall, 24,239 people died during follow-up in the entire cohort.
Researchers have found that an unhealthy lifestyle, including factors such as current smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, not enough physical activity, an unhealthy body shape and overweight, insufficient sleep, and an unhealthy diet, can contribute to a person's death. They found that it could increase your risk by 78% compared to the general population. healthy lifestyle.
In addition to this, the research team created a polygenic risk score to assess whether a person is likely to have a short, medium or long lifespan.
The researchers multiplied the number of alleles associated with shorter lifespans by the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on lifespan and summed all the results to create a score. Overall, those in the short genetic longevity group (20 percent of the groups) had a 21 percent increased risk of dying during follow-up compared to those in the long genetic longevity group (20 percent of the groups).
Genetic risk and lifestyle factors, when combined, predict a shorter lifespan if you have a genetic and unhealthy lifestyle, compared to a longer lifespan if you live a healthy lifestyle. There was a 2.04-fold increased risk of dying during follow-up.
“Our study shows that a healthy lifestyle can reduce overall risk within and between genetic risk groups, and that a genetic predisposition to short life expectancy is associated with a healthy lifestyle. “We found that having a large amount of blood can substantially compensate,” the researchers wrote.
“Participants at high genetic risk could increase their life expectancy by approximately 5.22 years at age 40 if they practiced a good lifestyle. Lifestyle habits are usually formed before middle age. Given this, it is critical for people at high genetic risk to receive effective public health interventions to extend lifespan before a certain lifestyle develops.”