PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anne Vinkel Hansen
AU  - Laust Hvas Mortensen
AU  - Rudi Westendorp
TI  - Centenarian Hotspots in Denmark
AID  - 10.1101/170654
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 170654
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/09/170654.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/09/170654.full
AB  - Background: The study of regions with high prevalence of centenarians is motivated by a desire to find determinants of healthy ageing. While existing research has focused on selected candidate geographical regions, we explore the existence of hotspots in the whole the Denmark, which is a small and homogeneous country.Methods: We performed a Kulldorff spatial scan across the whole of Denmark, searching for regions of birth, and regions of residence at age 71, where a significantly increased percentage of the cohort born 1906-1915 became centenarians. Next we compared mortality hazards for the identified regions to the rest of the country by sex and residence at age 71.Results: We found a birth hotspot of 222 centenarians, 1.37 times more than the expected number, centered on a group of fairly remote rural islands. Significantly lower mortality hazards from age 71 onwards were confined to those who were born within the hotspot and persisted over a period of at least 30 years. At age 71, we found two residence-based hotspots of 348 respectively 238 centenarians, equaling 1.46- and 1.44 times the expected number. One is located in the high-income suburbs of the Danish capital and here the lower mortality hazard was confined to those who moved into the hotspot. In the second residence-based hotspot, both those who were born, and those who moved into the hotspot, showed significant lower mortality hazards.Conclusion: Within the whole of Denmark, we identified several centenarian hotspots that have different biological underpinnings. These outcomes point to complex gene-environmental interactions explaining a variety of longevity trajectories.