We invite you to a LEGend lecture of Professor Kaare Christensen on 21 February, 16:00 hrs in lecture hall 5 at the LUMC. Professor Christensen dedicated his career to ageing research in the Danish Twin Registry and Familial Longevity studies. He is a wonderful speaker and a very nice person to talk to, so come and visit his lecture entitled: Longevity-enriched families. How did they succeed?

Bio sketch

Kaare Christensen (born June 20, 1959) is a Danish epidemiologist and biostatistician. He is a professor of epidemiology at the University of Southern Denmark, where he also directs the Danish Aging Research Center and the Danish Twin Registry. He is known for his research on human longevity and aging. Specific topics he has researched include the increasing average life expectancy in developing countries, as well as the influence of genetic factors on human lifespan and international variations in levels of happiness. In 2016, he was awarded the Longevity Prize from the Fondation IPSEN “for his pioneering work on the importance of genes and environment in aging and longevity.”

Abstract

Offspring of Danish long-lived siblings as well as their spouses and their children have lower mortality than the background population — a health advantage across three generations. Preliminary results suggest that this advantage is detectable also in the fourth generation. To better understand the mechanisms underlying this familial transmission of exceptional health and survival, we assessed, via nationwide Danish registers, the socioeconomic characteristics of these families through the 20th century and a series of health records since the 1970s. Several of the explored demographic and health characteristics suggest that behavior is a central mechanism underlying the exceptional health and survival in these families.

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