Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
8318060
TITLE
Genetic and environmental covariance of serum cholesterol and blood pressure in female twins.
ABSTRACT
Blood pressure elevation is frequently associated with elevated cholesterol, triglyceride or low density lipoprotein (LDL-C) or low high density lipoprotein (HDL-C). The relative importance of genetic and environmental factors in these associations is unclear. We examined the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to the association between blood pressure and serum lipids in 75 pairs of female twins using path analysis and maximum-likelihood model fitting. Associations between systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol (r = 0.44, P < 0.001), and LDL-C (r = 0.38, P < 0.001), but not HDL-C (r = 0.05, N.S.), remained significant after age and body mass index adjustment. Univariate models suggested genetic effects contributed 60-70% to the variance of total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and systolic blood pressure. The remaining variance was explained by age and/or unique environmental influences. Using bivariate models, we demonstrated genetic (P = 0.017) and unique environmental covariance (P = 0.011) of cholesterol and systolic blood pressure. Significant genetic covariance (P = 0.038) was observed between LDL-C and systolic blood pressure. The association between blood pressure and total cholesterol in these twins results from shared genetic and similar unique environmental influences. The association between LDL-C and blood pressure is partly due to shared genetic influences. We conclude that both additive genetic and environmental factors unique to the individual are important determinants of the relationships between serum lipids and blood pressure.
DATE PUBLISHED
1993 Apr
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
pubmed 1993/04/01
medline 1993/04/01 00:01
entrez 1993/04/01 00:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Williams PD Williams P D PD Department of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth.
Puddey IB Puddey I B IB
Martin NG Martin N G NG
Beilin LJ Beilin L J LJ
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 100
ISSUE: 1
TITLE: Atherosclerosis
ISOABBREVIATION: Atherosclerosis
YEAR: 1993
MONTH: Apr
DAY:
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Print
ISSN: 0021-9150
ISSNTYPE: Print
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Atherosclerosis
COUNTRY: Ireland
ISSNLINKING: 0021-9150
NLMUNIQUEID: 0242543
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
MESH HEADINGS
DESCRIPTORNAME QUALIFIERNAME
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Blood Pressure genetics
Body Mass Index genetics
Cholesterol genetics
Cholesterol, HDL genetics
Cholesterol, LDL genetics
Female genetics
Humans genetics
Life Style genetics
Lipids blood
Middle Aged blood
Socioeconomic Factors blood
Twins genetics
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
REGISTRYNUMBER NAMEOFSUBSTANCE
0 Cholesterol, HDL
0 Cholesterol, LDL
0 Lipids
97C5T2UQ7J Cholesterol
OTHER ID's