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Studies on sirtuins (SIRT), a family of proteins with deacetylase activity, have provided convergent evidence of the key role of these enzymes in aging-linked physiological functions. The link between SIRT1 and longevity has emerged in model organism but few data are available in humans, in particular relying on longitudinal studies. Here, we assessed whether a genetic variant within SIRT1 gene promoter (rs12778366) was associated to human longevity. We analyzed 586 genomic DNA (gDNA) collected in the study “Treviso Longeva” (TRELONG), including elderly over 70 years of age from the municipality of Treviso, a town in the Northeast of Italy, with a 11-year follow-up. We genotyped SIRT1 rs12778366 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) allelic discrimination assay. A cross-sectional analysis performed by comparing people over and under 85 years of age did not evidence association between rs12778366 and longevity. When we performed a longitudinal analysis considering mortality as dependent variable, we did not observe an association of rs12778366 with longevity in the whole population (corrected P-value = 0.33). However, when we stratified the TRELONG subjects according to circulating level of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a predictor of disability and mortality, we found that rs12778366 (TC+CC) carriers were at increased risk of mortality in comparison to the TT reference group (corrected P-value = 0.03, HR 1.47). Our data do not support a major role of rs12778366 in human longevity, but the stratified analysis on IL-6 suggests that this variant may be involved in the detrimental effect of high circulating IL-6 in the elderly.

People’s views on population ageing are influenced by the statistics that they read about it. The statistical measures in common use today were first developed around a century ago, in a very different demographic environment. For around two decades, we have been studying population ageing and have been arguing that its conventional portrayal is misleading. In this chapter, we summarize some of that research, which provides an alternative picture of population ageing, one that is more appropriate for twenty-first century. More details about our new view of population ageing can be found in. (Sanderson and Scherbov 2019). Population ageing can be measured in different ways. An example of this can found in the UN’s Profiles in Ageing, 2017. One way is to report on the forecasted increase in the number of people 60+ years old in the world.