Is melatonin circadian rhythm a physiological feature associated with healthy longevity? A study of long-living subjects and their progeny.

The study investigates the circadian rhythm (CR) of urinary 6-sulphatoxy-melatonin (aMT6s) in long-living (longevous) subjects and their progeny. The aim is to detect whether or not the melatonin CR is a physiological feature associated with healthy longevity. The aMT6s CR was investigated in 10 longevous subjects, 8 of their children and 9 of their grandchildren, all in good health. Control data were obtained respectively from 13 adult subjects and 9 young subjects, in good health, but characterized by a negative family history for longevity. All the subjects were born and living in the same city. The study was performed in the summer of 1996. The aMT6s CR was found to persist in longevous subjects, being characterized by a lower mesor and amplitude. The aMT6s CR was found not to show properties consistently different in children and grandchildren as compared respectively to their adult and young controls. Because of its preservation in longevous subjects, it can be argued that the melatonin CR is a physiological feature associated with healthy longevity. Because of the comparability of aMT6s CR in children and grandchildren, with respect to their controls without a positive family history of longevity, it can be argued that the melatonin CR is not a marker that can be used for an earlier identification of the candidates for longevity.

Lower 24-h blood pressure regimen in subjects with a familial genealogy of longevity.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the 24-h blood pressure (BP) pattern in longevous subjects and their progeny, in order to validate the hypothesis that the human beings who live beyond their longest expectancy of life should be protected from developing hypertension. Such a characteristic feature is supposed to be a biological aspect of human longevity which can be transmitted to the progeny. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on 92 elderly subjects, (45 M, 47 W, 76-102 years), and 28 firstborn descendants of the first (7 M, 7 W, 36-55 years) and second (7 M, 7 W, 16-26 years) generation, in clinical health. The control subjects were 308 clinically healthy individuals (154 M, 154 F, 16-75 years) of the common population, stratified by age. RESULTS: The longevous subjects were found to show a diastolic daily mean level less pronounced than expected, according to the BP age-related trend in the common population. Both the children and grandchildren of the longevous subjects were seen to show a systolic and diastolic daily mean level significantly less pronounced than in their coeval subjects of the common population. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the unexpected lower diastolic BP daily mean level in the very old subjects, the hypothesis that the longevous subjects might be protected from developing hypertension via the arteriolar vasoconstriction seems to be confirmed. Because of the lower systolic and diastolic BP in young and adult subjects with a positive familiarity for longevity, the hypothesis that the hemodynamic protection from senile hypertension might be an inheritable biological feature of the longevity seems to be acceptable.

Campodimele study: blood pressure and heart rate pattern in clinically healthy elderly subjects.

Noninvasive ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring is a developing method in clinical practice. Its interpretation needs reference standards stratified by age and gender. This study addresses ambulatory BP monitoring in elderly people with the purpose of quantifying the discrete and periodic variability of BP pattern over a 24-h period. The ABPM was performed in 92 clinically healthy subjects (45 men and 47 women) ranging in age from 76 to 102 years. The results refer to the time-qualified mean values with their dispersion, to the circadian rhythm with its parameters, and to the daily baric impact (BI) with its variability. The conclusion is drawn that BP preserves its nychtohemeral variability and circadian rhythmicity despite old age. The daily BP mean level and BI in older people in good health are comparable with those of young subjects, suggesting that humans surviving into old age are characterized by a eugenic control of their pressure regimen.

[A 24-hour blood pressure and heart rate pattern in healthy persons over 70 years of age. A Campodimele study]. / Comportamento di 24-h della pressione arteriosa e della frequenza cardiaca in vecchi sani ultrasettuagenari. Studio di Campodimele.

The present report is aimed at studying the 24-h pattern of blood pressure in elderly subjects (45 men and 47 women, aged from 76 to 102 years), recruited in Campodimele, a small city where the population of ultra septuagenaries is very dense. The investigation has been performed by mean of ambulatory non-invasive monitoring combined with chronobiometric estimates. The computation has been performed on raw data, rhythmic series and integral profiles. The analysis has been stratified according to sex. The tabulated estimates constitute an index of reference for blood pressure 24-h pattern in aged people.