Dataset Information

Genetic and environmental contributions to weight, height, and BMI from birth to 19 years of age: an international study of over 12,000 twin pairs.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To examine the genetic and environmental influences on variances in weight, height, and BMI, from birth through 19 years of age, in boys and girls from three continents.

Design and settings

Cross-sectional twin study. Data obtained from a total of 23 twin birth-cohorts from four countries: Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia. Participants were Monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) (same- and opposite-sex) twin pairs with data available for both height and weight at a given age, from birth through 19 years of age. Approximately 24,036 children were included in the analyses.

Results

Heritability for body weight, height, and BMI was low at birth (between 6.4 and 8.7% for boys, and between 4.8 and 7.9% for girls) but increased over time, accounting for close to half or more of the variance in body weight and BMI after 5 months of age in both sexes. Common environmental influences on all body measures were high at birth (between 74.1-85.9% in all measures for boys, and between 74.2 and 87.3% in all measures for girls) and markedly reduced over time. For body height, the effect of the common environment remained significant for a longer period during early childhood (up through 12 years of age). Sex-limitation of genetic and shared environmental effects was observed.

Conclusion

Genetics appear to play an increasingly important role in explaining the variation in weight, height, and BMI from early childhood to late adolescence, particularly in boys. Common environmental factors exert their strongest and most independent influence specifically in pre-adolescent years and more significantly in girls. These findings emphasize the need to target family and social environmental interventions in early childhood years, especially for females. As gene-environment correlation and interaction is likely, it is also necessary to identify the genetic variants that may predispose individuals to obesity.

SUBMITTER: Dubois L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3275599 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Genetic and environmental contributions to weight, height, and BMI from birth to 19 years of age: an international study of over 12,000 twin pairs.

Dubois Lise L Ohm Kyvik Kirsten K Girard Manon M Tatone-Tokuda Fabiola F Pérusse Daniel D Hjelmborg Jacob J Skytthe Axel A Rasmussen Finn F Wright Margaret J MJ Lichtenstein Paul P Martin Nicholas G NG

PloS one 20120208 2

<h4>Objective</h4>To examine the genetic and environmental influences on variances in weight, height, and BMI, from birth through 19 years of age, in boys and girls from three continents.<h4>Design and settings</h4>Cross-sectional twin study. Data obtained from a total of 23 twin birth-cohorts from four countries: Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia. Participants were Monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) (same- and opposite-sex) twin pairs with data available for both height and weight at a gi ...[more]

PMID: 22347368

Similar Datasets

Project description:The growth of children is an indicator of health and society's wellbeing. Growth references are useful in monitoring a child's growth, which is a very important part of child care. Poland's growth references are not updated regularly. Although several growth reference ranges have been developed in Poland over recent years, sampling was restricted to urban populations of major cities. The aim of this study was to assess how well Polish children match with, or diverge from, regional charts and to compare them with international growth references.Four Polish and two international (WHO 2007 and USCDC2000) growth references were used to calculate the height, weight and BMI z-scores in a recent, large, population-representative sample of school-aged children and adolescents in Poland. The distributions of z-scores were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods.Mean height z-scores calculated with the use of the WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 references were positive and significantly different from zero over the entire age range. The mean height z-score was closest to zero in the Poznan reference for boys (0.05) and Warszawa reference for girls (0.01). Median weight z-scores were positive under all weight references over the entire age range with only the exception of 18-year-old girls' weight z-score calculated relative to USCDC2000. Median BMI z-scores were positive in males in early childhood, decreasing with age. In the case of girls, the median BMI z-score calculated using WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 was close to zero in early childhood, decreased in adolescents and reached minimum values at age 18 years. Median BMI z-scores calculated with the use of the Lodz reference fluctuated between 0.05 and 0.2 over the studied age range.In this contemporary sample of Polish school-aged children, distributions of height, weight and BMI differed from those of children from the international growth references. These differences should be considered when using the references. There exist certain limitations to the analysis of height, weight, and BMI z-scores when Polish regional references are used.

Project description:Background Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) undergoes major changes in obesity, but little is known about the whole-genome scale patterns of these changes or about their variation between different obesity subgroups. We sought to compare how transcriptomics profiles in SAT differ between monozygotic (MZ) co-twins who are discordant for body mass index (BMI), whether the profiles vary between twin pairs and whether the variation can be linked to clinical characteristics. Methods We analyzed the transcriptomics (Affymetrix U133 Plus 2.0) patterns of SAT in young MZ twin pairs (n =26, intrapair difference in BMI>3 kg/m2, aged 23-36), from 10 birth cohorts of adult Finnish twins. The clinical data included measurements of body composition, insulin resistance, lipids, and adipokines. Results We found 2108 genes differentially expressed (FDR<0.05) in SAT of the BMI-discordant pairs. Pathway analyses of these genes revealed a significant downregulation of mitochondrial oxidative pathways (p<0.05) and upregulation of inflammation pathways (p<0.05). Hierarchical clustering of heavy/lean twin ratios, representing effects of acquired obesity in the transcriptomics data, revealed three sub-groups with different molecular profiles (FDR<0.05). Analyses comparing these sub-groups showed that, in the heavy co-twins, downregulation of the mitochondrial pathways, especially that of branched chain amino acid (BCAA) degradation was more evident in two last clusters while and upregulation of the inflammatory response was most evident in the last, presumably the unhealthiest cluster. High fasting insulin levels and large adipocyte diameter were the predominant clinical characteristic of the heavy co-twins in this cluster (Bonferroni adjusted p<0.05). Conclusions This is the first study in BMI-discordant MZ twin pairs reporting sub-types of obesity based on both SAT gene expression profiles and clinical traits. We conclude that a decrease in mitochondrial BCAA degradation and an increase in inflammation in SAT co-occur and associate with hyperinsulinemia and large adipocyte size in unhealthy obesity.

Dataset Information

Genetic and environmental contributions to weight, height, and BMI from birth to 19 years of age: an international study of over 12,000 twin pairs.

Objective

Design and settings

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Genetic and environmental contributions to weight, height, and BMI from birth to 19 years of age: an international study of over 12,000 twin pairs.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets