Lower All-Cause, Cardiovascular, and Cancer Mortality in Centenarians' Offspring

Objectives: To assess the cause of death for centenarians' offspring and controls. Design: Cross‐sectional study. Setting: Community‐based, nationwide sample. Participants: Family pedigree information was collected on 295 offspring of centenarians (from 106 families with a parent already enrolled in the nationwide New England Centenarian Study) and on 276 controls (from 82 control families) from 1997 to 2000. Controls were individuals whose parents were born in the same year as the centenarians but at least one of whom died at the average life expectancy. Measurements: Age at death and cause of death. Results: Centenarians' offspring had a 62% lower risk of all‐cause mortality (P