What is New England Centenarian Study? A Research Programme?

What is New England Centenarian Study? A Research Programme?



http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Content.aspx?DepartmentID=361&PageID=5924


All your questions should be ansdwered by that site.


Here are its first words:

THE NEW ENGLAND CENTENARIAN STUDY

Hypothesis The New England Centenarian Study (NECS) is based on our conviction that centenarians are a select group of people who have a history of aging relatively slowly and who have either markedly delayed or entirely escaped diseases normally associated with aging such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, stroke and heart disease (1).



History The study began in 1994 as a population-based study of all centenarians living within 8 towns in the Boston area. The prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias in centenarians was the focus. Given that the prevalence of centenarians in industrialized countries is approximately one centenarian per 10,000 people in the population, at any particular time we were studying approximately 46 centenarians within a total population of 460,000 people (2). The NECS has gone on to enroll centenarians from throughout the United States and other countries and has grown to be the largest comprehensive study of centenarians in the world. There are currently 1,500 subjects to-date, including centenarians, their siblings and children (in their 70s and 80s) and younger controls. The study previously received funding from the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Ellison Medical Foundation and currently receives funding from the National Institute of Aging (NIA), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). All studies are approved by the Boston University Medical Center Institutional Review Board.

The Older You Get, The Healthier You've Been

Consistent with our hypothesis that centenarians markedly delay or even escape age-associated diseases (e.g. heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease), we noted that 90% of them were functionally independent the vast majority of their lives up until the average age of 92 years and 75% were the same at an average age of 95 years. Centenarians disprove the perception that "the older you get the sicker you get", centenarians teach us that the older you get the healthier you've been (3).


Predictors of Reaching 100

Once it truly became apparent that living to 100 was a terrific advantage, not just in years of survival but importantly in many more years of quality life, we set out to understand what factors the centenarians had in common that might explain such an advantage. Not all centenarians are alike. They vary widely in years of education (no years to post-graduate), socioeconomic status (very poor to very rich), religion, ethnicity and patterns of diet (strictly vegetarian to extremely rich in saturated fats). However, the centenarians we have studied do have a number of characteristics in common:........



More:

http://www.healthandage.com/html/min/new_england/index.htm


More again:

http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/program.php?program_id=1285


It seems to be Harvard Medical School, and yes, it is a study, or several studies.