Reassessing the evidence of a survival advantage in Type 2 diabetes treated with metformin compared with controls without diabetes: a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Previous research has suggested that individuals with Type 2 diabetes and initiated on metformin monotherapy present with a survival advantage compared with the general population without diabetes. This finding has generated considerable interest in the prophylactic use of metformin against age-related morbidity.

Methods: Utilizing Danish National Health Registers, we assessed differences in survival associated with metformin monotherapy for Type 2 diabetes compared with no diagnosis of diabetes in both singleton and discordant twin populations between 1996 and 2012.

Genetic Influence on the Peripheral Differentiation Signature of Vδ2+ γδ and CD4+ αβ T Cells in Adults.

Adaptive as well as innate immune traits are variously affected by environmental and genetic influences, but little is known about the impact of genetics on the diversity, differentiation and functionality of γδ T cells in humans. Here, we analyzed a cohort of 95 middle-aged twins from the Danish Twin Registry. The differentiation status of peripheral αβ and γδ T cells was assessed by flow cytometry based on the surface expression of CD27, CD28 and CD45RA.

Clonal hematopoiesis in elderly twins: concordance, discordance, and mortality.

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is defined by mutations in myeloid cancer-associated genes with a variant allele frequency of at least 2%. Recent studies have suggested a possible genetic predisposition to CH. To further explore this phenomenon, we conducted a population-based study of 594 twins from 299 pairs aged 73 to 94 years, all with >20 years' follow-up.

The Danish Twin Registry: An Updated Overview.

The Danish Twin Registry (DTR) was established in the 1950s, when twins born from 1870 to 1910 were ascertained, and has since been extended to include twins from birth cohorts until 2009. The DTR currently comprises of more than 175,000 twins from the 140 birth cohorts. This makes the DTR the oldest nationwide twin register and among the largest in the world.

Sex differences in the 1-year risk of dying following all-cause and cause-specific hospital admission after age 50 in comparison with a general and non-hospitalised population: a register-based cohort study of the Danish population.

Objectives: We examine the mortality of men and women within the first year after all-cause and cause-specific hospital admission to investigate whether the sex differences in mortality after hospitalisation are higher than in the corresponding general and non-hospitalised population.

Design: This is a population-based, longitudinal study with nationwide coverage. The study population was identified by linking the National Patient Register with the Central Population Register using a 5% random sample of the Danish population.

Comparison of Late Mortality Among Twins Versus Singletons With Congenital Heart Defects.

In 2014, in the United States, nearly 7% of newborns were twins. Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are more frequent in both monozygotic and dizygotic twins than in singletons. Still, the longer-term prognosis for CHD twins is unknown.

Early-life mortality risks in opposite-sex and same-sex twins: a Danish cohort study of the twin testosterone transfer hypothesis.

Purpose: To investigate the twin testosterone transfer (TTT) hypothesis by comparing early-life mortality risks of opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) twins during the first 15 years of life.

Methods: We performed a population-based cohort study to compare mortality in OS and SS twins. We included 68,629 live-born Danish twins from 1973 to 2009 identified through the Danish Twin Registry and performed piecewise stratified Cox regression and log-binomial regression.

Mitral valve regurgitation in twins: Concordance and survival.

Background: Smaller observational studies have suggested familial clustering of mitral regurgitation (MR). Using a large twin cohort, the aims were to assess MR concordance rates and assess mortality in MR twins and unaffected cotwins.

Methods: Through the Danish Twin Registry, twins with an International Classification of Diseases, Eighth Revision and Tenth Revision diagnosis code of MR born 1880-1989 were identified and proband-wise concordance rates were calculated.

Genetic Influence on the Peripheral Blood CD4+ T-cell Differentiation Status in CMV Infection.

A latent infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a ubiquitous beta herpesvirus, is associated with an accumulation of late-differentiated memory T-cells, often accompanied by a reciprocal reduced frequency of early-differentiated cells (commonly also referred to as "naïve"). However, this impact of CMV on T-cell phenotypes is variable between individuals. Our previous findings in a subgroup of participants in the Leiden familial Longevity Study indicated an important role of genetics.

Mortality is Written on the Face.

Background: It is unknown whether facial or surrounding (eg, hair and clothing) cues have the strongest influence on the perceived age of subjects in photographic images, and which drives links between perceived age and survival.

Methods: In 2001, 187 Danish twin pairs (n = 374) aged 70+ years were photographed generating passport-type images. The faces of the twins in these images were swapped creating two new images per twin pair (748 images in total).

Genetic and environmental influence on DNA strand break repair: a twin study.

Accumulation of DNA damage deriving from exogenous and endogenous sources has significant consequences for cellular survival, and is implicated in aging, cancer, and neurological diseases. Different DNA repair pathways have evolved in order to maintain genomic stability. Genetic and environmental factors are likely to influence DNA repair capacity.