The Nation - News from March 24, 1988

A study of children separated from their parents at birth shows that whether people die young or live to a normal age depends largely on the genes they inherit, not on the way they are brought up. The research, conducted in Denmark, found that those whose biological parents died before age 50 faced twice the usual risk of dying at an early age. The deaths of their adoptive parents had no effect on their longevity. The report found an especially strong link between genes and the risk of dying from infections or vascular disease, largely heart attacks and strokes. But it found the risk of dying from cancer seems to be influenced more by environment than by genes. The research, by doctors at Hvidovre University Hospital in Copenhagen, was published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.