Published July 2, 2010
First, let’s set the record straight. These errors have been repeated, including today on NPR:
Correction No. 1: Boston University researchers have not discovered a way to determine whether you’ll live to 100. The researchers have identified a pattern of genes common to most centenarians.
Old people jeans (Fairywren/Flickr)
Correction No. 2: There is no test. The research is not patented, though, so anyone could develop a test. A test to see if you share some of the same genes with 77 percent of centenarians. Correlation is not causation.
As @ianbouchard notes on Twitter: “I bet they also proved that the beginning of the NFL season causes leaves to change color. 100% correlation.”
That said, would you even want to take a test? I admit, when we heard about this study in the newsroom, my colleagues and I had this gut reaction: I wonder if I have the genes! We all wonder how long we might live.
But I doubt a test would be satisfying or at all conclusive. Are you going to discover you have the genes and stop exercising?
DNA Determinism?
[pullquote author=”George Bernard Shaw”]”Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.”[/pullquote]
“Just based upon genetic data alone, we have a pretty good chance of predicting whether a person is a centenarian,” said the lead researcher, Dr. Tom Perls, on Radio Boston yesterday.
“But that doesn’t say anything about the importance of these other factors. For example, I can count on one hand the number of centenarians who smoke or have a history of smoking. They tend to not be obese.”
Dr. Michael Grodin, a medical ethicist at the BU Medical Center, invoked George Bernard Shaw: “Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.”
“Somebody who has these genetic factors could walk out and get hit by a car,” Grodin said. “I think one has to live one’s life and not worry so much about genetic disposition.
And life is not really about longevity, he said. It’s about the quality of your years.
So would you want to take the test?
Coverage around the Hub: