Study: Being a twin may come with longevity benefits

Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered a potential huge perk to being a twin.

According to their analysis of existing data, "...twins have lower mortality rates for both sexes throughout their lifetimes."

Records used in the study were gathered from the Danish Twin Registry.

The team focused on nearly 3,000 same sex twins born between the years of 1870 and 1900 to ensure all involved had lived their full lives.

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Overall, the duos showed greater longevity than singletons, but there were notable gender-based differences.

The university press release explained that "for men, they [researchers] found that the peak benefit of having a twin came in the subjects' mid-40s. That difference is about 6 percentage points, meaning that if out of 100 boys in the general population, 84 were still alive at age 45, then for twins that number was 90. For women, the peak mortality advantage came in their early 60s, and the difference was about 10 percentage points.

Strong social bonds are suggested as a key factor in twins' increased longevity.

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