Long-Lived Parents May Mean Longer Life for You

If your parents are living long lives, that could mean good things for your health, a new study found.

Many heart-related conditions were less common in those whose parents lived healthily into old age, this University of Exeter study found.

This study looked at around 190,000 participants in middle age. For each decade one parent lived past age 70, overall survival increased for the parent's offspring by 17 percent, these researchers found.

This increased survival was likely due to a lower incidence of several conditions, including stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, heart disease, atrial fibrillation and high cholesterol, according to this study.

For each decade one parent lived past 70, the risk of death from heart disease decreased by 20 percent in that parent's child, for example.

Also, people with longer-lived parents had a 7 percent lower risk of cancer on average, these researchers found.

The researchers noted that how long a patient's parents live might help health professionals predict that patient's risk for developing certain conditions and, in turn, when to start treatment.

Talk to your doctor about how to maintain a healthy heart.

This study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The Medical Research Council funded this research. Information on potential conflicts of interest was not available at the time of publication.