Heritability of Longitudinal Measures of Body Mass Index and Lipid and Lipoprotein Levels in Aging Twins
Year: 2007
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Body-mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglyceride (TG) levels are known to be highly heritable. We evaluated the genetic and environmental relationships of these measures over time in an analysis of twin pairs. Monozygotic (235 pairs) and dizygotic (260 pairs) male twins were participants in the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Veteran Twin Study, and were followed with three clinical exams from mean age 48 years to mean age 63 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) with adjustment for APOE genotype (a significant contributor to TC and LDL-C) was used to assess longitudinal patterns of heritability. Results indicated a contribution of genetic factors to BMI, TC, LDL-C, HLD-C, and TG. Modest increases over time were observed in the heritability of BMI (from 0.48 to 0.61), TC (from 0.46 to 0.57), LDL-C (from 0.49 to 0.64), and HDL-C (from 0.50 to 0.62), but this trend was not present for TG. There was a corresponding decrease in shared environmental influences over time for these traits, although shared environment was a significant contributor only for HDL-C. Moreover, we observed that genetic influences for all measures were significantly correlated over time, and we found no evidence of age-specific genetic effects. In summary, longitudinal analyses of twin data indicate that genetic factors do not account for a significant proportion of the variation in age-related changes of BMI or lipid and lipoprotein levels.
Source: Twin Research and Human Genetics
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: TWIN STUDY CLINICAL MONITORING DATA ANALYSIS CENTER, HUMAN LIPOPROTEIN PATHOPHYSIOLOGY, GENETIC MAPPING OF ATHEROGENIC LIPOPROTEIN PHENOTYPES, G1849565624, G1849687938, Variance Component Models for Mapping QTLs, G2210589424, G2446282059, NHLBI TWIN STUDY-THIRD EXAMINATION: SAN FRANCISCO CTR, G2844727419, G2883077906, G3199390442, NHLBI TWIN STUDY -THIRD EXAMINATION: LOS ANGELES CENTER, G512582931, G6177525832, G67746219, NHLBI TWIN STUDY- -THIRD EXAMINATION DAVIS CENTER, GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CHD RISK FACTORS IN WOMEN TWINS, G9000108385, DEVELOPMENT OF OBESITY IN YOUNG BLACK AND WHITE FEMALES
OpenAlex ID: W2065382058