NEXT FACT
Twins live longer.
What are the health benefits of having a close friend — like identical twins close — for your entire life? Well, according to research from the University of Washington, the positive effects on life expectancy can be astounding. In 2016, UW scientists analyzed data gathered in the Danish Twin Registry, one of the world’s oldest registries on identical and fraternal twins. The data the scientists reviewed included information on nearly 3,000 same-sex twins who survived beyond the age of 10 from 1870 to 1900. With the data being over a century old, scientists could ensure that all subjects in the study had completed their natural life spans. The study found that twins enjoyed a significantly higher survival rate compared to the overall Danish population, an advantage that peaked for male twins when they were in their mid-40s and for female twins in their early 60s. At those ages, male twins were more likely to be alive by 6 percentage points — meaning that in a group of 100 Danish men back then, if 84 were still alive at age 45, for twins the number was 90. For female twins, the difference at the peak was 10 percentage points.
NEXT FACT
Twins live longer.
What are the health benefits of having a close friend — like identical twins close — for your entire life? Well, according to research from the University of Washington, the positive effects on life expectancy can be astounding. In 2016, UW scientists analyzed data gathered in the Danish Twin Registry, one of the world’s oldest registries on identical and fraternal twins. The data the scientists reviewed included information on nearly 3,000 same-sex twins who survived beyond the age of 10 from 1870 to 1900. With the data being over a century old, scientists could ensure that all subjects in the study had completed their natural life spans. The study found that twins enjoyed a significantly higher survival rate compared to the overall Danish population, an advantage that peaked for male twins when they were in their mid-40s and for female twins in their early 60s. At those ages, male twins were more likely to be alive by 6 percentage points — meaning that in a group of 100 Danish men back then, if 84 were still alive at age 45, for twins the number was 90. For female twins, the difference at the peak was 10 percentage points.