Structural Brain Correlates in Offspring of Parents with and without Exceptional Longevity

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Natalie Delpratt¹ (natalie.delpratt@einsteinmed.edu), Nir Barzilai¹, Sofiya Milman¹, Joe Verghese¹, Helena Blumen¹; ¹Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Individuals with exceptional longevity maintain their independence for an extended period and delay the onset of age-related diseases. Their offspring also exhibit extended lifespan and health span – and can be used as a model for studying exceptional longevity. Emerging evidence suggests that offspring of those with exceptional longevity have larger temporal and sensorimotor cortices – but the relationship between parental longevity and overall brain health is not well-understood. We employed multivariate covariance-based statistics to identify a gray matter volume covariance pattern (or network) associated with parental longevity. We also examined if this brain network was associated with cognitive performance. One hundred and thirty-nine older LonGenity study participants with structural MRI scans were included in this analysis (M Age 79.35±6.46 years; 56.11% women). All participants were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Eighty-four (60.43%) were offspring of parents with exceptional longevity (OPEL: at least one parent lived 95 years or more) and 55 (39.57%) were offspring of parents with usual survival (OPUS: both parents lived less than 95 years). Multivariate analyses were adjusted for age, sex, years of education, estimated total intracranial volume, and white matter lesion burden. The derived gray matter covariance pattern associated with OPEL was primarily composed of larger volume in frontal, insular and hippocampal brain regions. The extent to which older adults displayed this pattern was associated with executive function and episodic memory. These findings suggest that larger volume in a widespread pattern of brain regions – including regions particularly affected by aging and Alzheimer’s disease – are associated with parental longevity.

Topic Area: EXECUTIVE PROCESSES: Development &aging