What this means
This review gathers past studies on heart and blood vessel health in centenarians. It describes patterns, but does not prove what causes their heart resilience.
Plain-English summary written by an AI model from the abstract. The original is below.
- Who it was tested in
- A review of earlier studies on centenarians
- Kind of research
- A summary of earlier studies
The science
- Original title
- Cardiovascular resilience in centenarians.
- Authors
- Carrera-Bastos P, Plaza-Florido A, Pérez-Prieto I et al.
- Journal
- Nature reviews. Cardiology
- Published
- Oct 26, 2026
- Study type
- Review
- PMID
- 42928381 ↗
Abstract
Centenarians - individuals aged ≥100 years - provide a unique human model for understanding resilience to cardiovascular ageing. Although cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease, are common in centenarians, their onset is typically delayed relative to that in individuals aged 80-100 years. Centenarians characteristically have structural changes in the heart and vessels, including concentric left ventricular remodelling, increased myocardial stiffness and vascular ageing, but often without the expected burden of myocardial infarction or overt heart failure. Their cardiometabolic profile is generally favourable, marked by preserved insulin sensitivity in cohorts with a low prevalence of diabetes mellitus, mid-range lipid levels and a low prevalence of obesity. Centenarians also have a distinctive inflammatory and gastrointestinal phenotype, characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation with elevated anti-inflammatory signalling, a gut microbiome that more closely resembles that of younger adults, and preserved intestinal barrier integrity. Genetically and epigenetically, exceptional longevity reflects highly polygenic contributions, selective maintenance of genomic stability and markedly younger epigenetic age compared with chronological age. In this Review, we summarize data on the cardiovascular system among centenarians by framing observations of longevity as a composite of delayed pathology, adaptive compensation and survivorship selection. Understanding the biological, behavioural and environmental mechanisms underlying cardiovascular resilience in extreme longevity might inform strategies to extend cardiovascular healthspan across all ages.
Carrera-Bastos P, Plaza-Florido A, Pérez-Prieto I et al. Cardiovascular resilience in centenarians. Nature reviews. Cardiology. 2026. doi:10.1038/s41569-026-01348-x. PMID: 42928381. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42928381/