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The 90 plus: longevity and COVID-19 survival

Molecular Psychiatry volume 27, pages 1936–1944 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The world population is getting older and studies aiming to enhance our comprehension of the underlying mechanisms responsible for health span are of utmost interest for longevity and as a measure for health care. In this review, we summarized previous genetic association studies (GWAS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of elderly cohorts. We also present the updated hypothesis for the aging process, together with the factors associated with healthy aging. We discuss the relevance of studying older individuals and build databanks to characterize the presence and resistance against late-onset disorders. The identification of about 2 million novel variants in our cohort of more than 1000 elderly Brazilians illustrates the importance of studying highly admixed populations of non-European ancestry. Finally, the ascertainment of nonagenarians and particularly of centenarians who were recovered from COVID-19 or remained asymptomatic opens new avenues of research aiming to enhance our comprehension of biological mechanisms associated with resistance against pathogens.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to all “ninety-plus” volunteers for their participation and to the HUG-CELL technical team for the material collection, process, and data analysis. Special thanks to Prevent Senior Institute for the 90+ volunteer screening process and blood collection in the cohort recovery from COVID-19; to Professor Keity Souza Santos and Professor Edecio Cunha-Neto from Heart Institute “InCor”—University of Sao Paulo for leading and execution of the serology tests with the 90+ recovered from COVID-19; to Professor Yeda Duarte from School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, who collaborates with our research group in studies on aging; to Brazilian Senator Mara Gabrilli for financial support. This work was supported by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP/Brazil) [Grant reference numbers 2013/08028-1, 2014/50931-3 and 2020/09702-1], the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) [grant reference number 465355/2014-5], the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior-Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 and JBS S.A [Grant reference number 69004]. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this review, or the decision to submit it for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Mayana Zatz, Monize V. R. Silva, Mateus V. de Castro & Michel S. Naslavsky

  2. Department of Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Biosciences Institute, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Mayana Zatz & Michel S. Naslavsky

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  1. Mayana Zatz
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  2. Monize V. R. Silva
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All authors contributed equally to the manuscript. MZ funding acquisition and writing (original draft, review, and editing). MVRS, MVC, and MSN writing (original draft, review, and editing).

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Correspondence to Mayana Zatz.

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Zatz, M., Silva, M.V.R., de Castro, M.V. et al. The 90 plus: longevity and COVID-19 survival. Mol Psychiatry 27, 1936–1944 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01461-6

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