Recent research carried out at the University of Washington has discovered that identical twins, and most remarkably, male identical twins, actually live longer than the general non- multiple birth populations. The research team studied almost 3,000 pairs of twins from Denmark. They gathered their data from the Danish Twin Registry which keeps the most comprehensive data on twins anywhere in the world.
Lead author on the study, David Sharrow said that, “We find that at nearly every age, identical twins survive at higher proportions than fraternal twins, and fraternal twins are slightly higher than the general population.”
The main reason for this, the researchers believe, is the close and lifelong social and emotional connection shared by identical twins. They studied 2,932 pairs of identical twins that had been born and raised in Denmark between the years 1870 and 1900. They wanted to ensure that they had data that covered entire lifetimes. They compared all of that data to the Danish population in general with those born in that thirty year period.
The research found that 84 of 100 boys were still alive from the general population when they reached their forties. But for the identical twins, it was 90 out of 100 still being alive well into their forties. Again, the researchers attributes the longer lifespans to what is generally termed the “marriage effect” in that marriage can provide many emotional supports that being single and alone can’t.
In general, though, close social bonding and close emotional ties can lead to longer and healthier lifespans according to much recent literature on the subject and this study seemed to bear all of that out. Female identical twins, in the research, live just slightly less longer than the male identical twins but still lived longer than the general population of the times examined.
The researchers hope that the work they have done will lead to further research that will be able to expand beyond what they have done. The researchers admit that the time periods that were examined were very much unlike other time periods especially when compared to the late 2oth century and beyond. Also, the researchers hope that identical twins from countries other than Denmark will be studied in the hope that this research stands up to other rigorous peer examinations.
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