Genetic variants linked to education predict longevity

A Fischer K Adams MJ Hill WD Davies G, Marioni RE Ritchie SJ Joshi PK Hagenaars SP Okbay; Social Science Genetic Association Consortium Nagy R Amador C Läll K Metspalu A Liewald DC Campbell A Wilson JF Hayward C Esko T Porteous DJ Gale CR Deary IJ COLLABORATORS Okbay A Beauchamp JP Fontana MA Lee JJ Pers TH Rietveld CA Turley P Chen GB Emilsson V Meddens SF Oskarsson S Pickrell JK Thom K Timshel P de Vlaming R Abdellaoui A Ahluwalia TS Bacelis J Baumbach C Bjornsdottir G Brandsma JH Concas MP Derringer J Furlotte NA Galesloot TE Girotto G Gupta R Hall LM Harris SE Hofer E Horikoshi M Huffman JE Kaasik K Kalafati IP Karlsson R Kong A Lahti J van der Lee SJ de Leeuw C Lind PA Lindgren KO Liu T Mangino M Marten J Mihailov E Miller MB van der Most PJ Oldmeadow C Payton A Pervjakova N Peyrot WJ Qian Y Raitakari O Rueedi R Salvi E Schmidt B Schraut KE Shi J Smith AV Poot RA St Pourcain B Teumer A Thorleifsson G Verweij N Vuckovic D Wellmann J Westra HJ Yang J Zhao W Zhu Z Alizadeh BZ Amin N Bakshi A Baumeister SE Biino G Bønnelykke K Boyle PA Campbell H Cappuccio FP Davies G De Neve JE Deloukas P Demuth I Ding J Eibich P Eisele L Eklund N Evans DM Faul JD Feitosa MF Forstner AJ Gandin I Gunnarsson B Halldórsson BV Harris TB Heath AC Hocking LJ Holliday EG Homuth G Horan MA Hottenga JJ de Jager PL Joshi PK Jugessur A Kaakinen MA Kähönen M Kanoni S KeltigangasJärvinen L Kiemeney LA Kolcic I Koskinen S Kraja AT Kroh M Kutalik Z Latvala A Launer LJ Lebreton MP Levinson DF Lichtenstein P Lichtner P Liewald DC Loukola A Madden PA Mägi R MäkiOpas T Marioni RE MarquesVidal P Meddens GA McMahon G Meisinger C Meitinger T Milaneschi Y Milani L Montgomery GW Myhre R Nelson CP Nyholt DR Ollier WE Palotie A Paternoster L Pedersen NL Petrovic KE Porteous DJ Räikkönen K Ring SM Robino A Rostapshova O Rudan I Rustichini A Salomaa V Sanders AR Sarin AP Schmidt H Scott RJ Smith BH Smith JA Staessen JA SteinhagenThiessen E Strauch K Terracciano A Tobin MD Ulivi S Vaccargiu S Quaye L van Rooij FJ Venturini C Vinkhuyzen AA Völker U Völzke H Vonk JM Vozzi D Waage J Ware EB Willemsen G Attia JR Bennett DA Berger K Bertram L Bisgaard H Boomsma DI Borecki IB Bultmann U Chabris CF Cucca F Cusi D Deary IJ Dedoussis GV van Duijn CM Eriksson JG Franke B Franke L Gasparini P Gejman PV Gieger C Grabe HJ Gratten J Groenen PJ Gudnason V van der Harst P Hayward C Hinds DA Hoffmann W Hypponen E Iacono WG Jacobsson B Järvelin MR Jöckel KH Kaprio J Kardia SL Lehtimäki T Lehrer SF Magnusson PK Martin NG McGue M Metspalu A Pendleton N Penninx BW Perola M Pirastu N Pirastu M Polasek O Posthuma D Power C Province MA Samani NJ Schlessinger D Schmidt R Sørensen TI Spector TD Stefansson K Thorsteinsdottir U Thurik AR Timpson NJ Tiemeier H Tung JY Uitterlinden AG Vitart V Vollenweider P Weir DR Wilson JF Wright AF Conley DC Krueger RF Smith GD Hofman A Laibson DI Medland SE Meyer MN Yang J Johannesson M Visscher PM Esko T Koellinger PD Cesarini, D Benjamin DJ

Educational attainment is associated with many health outcomes, including longevity. It is also known to be substantially heritable. Here, we used data from three large genetic epidemiology cohort studies (Generation Scotland, n = ~17,000; UK Biobank, n = ~115,000; and the Estonian Biobank, n = ~6,000) to test whether education-linked genetic variants can predict lifespan length. We did so by using cohort members' polygenic profile score for education to predict their parents' longevity. Across the three cohorts, meta-analysis showed that a 1 SD higher polygenic education score was associated with ~2.7% lower mortality risk for both mothers (total ndeaths = 79,702) and ~2.4% lower risk for fathers (total ndeaths = 97,630). On average, the parents of offspring in the upper third of the polygenic score distribution lived 0.55 y longer compared with those of offspring in the lower third. Overall, these results indicate that the genetic contributions to educational attainment are useful in the prediction of human longevity.