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Genetic and environmental factors in relative weight from birth to age 18: The Swedish Young Male Twins Study

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, pages 615–621 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives:

To investigate the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the development of relative weight during the growth period.

Design:

Longitudinal twin study.

Subjects:

Two-hundred and thirty-one monozygotic and 144 dizygotic complete male twin pairs born between 1973 and 1979 were measured annually from birth to 18 years of age.

Results:

Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) at age 18 correlated with BMI at age 1 (r=0.32, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.21–0.42), and this correlation increased steadily up to age 17 (r=0.91, 95% CI 0.89–0.93). Major part (81–95%) of these trait correlations was attributable to correlate additive genetic factors, but also unique environmental correlations were present during the whole-growth period. The correlation between ponderal index (kg/m3) at birth and BMI at age 18 was small (r=0.09, 95% CI 0.02–0.15) and totally because of correlated unique environmental factors.

Conclusions:

Our results suggest persistent genetic regulation of BMI from age 1 to 18. However, environmental factors, not shared by siblings, also affected the correlations of BMI. A small specific environmental correlation was found between ponderal index at birth and BMI at age 18, which may reflect the effect of neonatal environmental factors on adult BMI. A challenge to the future research is to identify chromosome regions and specific genes regulating the development of BMI as well as environmental factors affecting BMI through the growth period independently or interacting with genetic factors.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the EU Sixth Framework Programme Diogenes-project (contract FP6-2005-513946) and a grant to Finn Rasmussen from the Swedish Council for Research (contract #40186801). KS was supported by the Academy of Finland (grant #108297). KS, KHP and JK work in the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    K Silventoinen & J Kaprio

  2. Obesity Research Unit, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    K H Pietiläinen

  3. Division of Epidemiology, Stockholm Centre of Public Health, Stockholm, Sweden

    P Tynelius & F Rasmussen

  4. Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Center for Health and Society, Copenhagen, Denmark

    T I A Sørensen

  5. Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    J Kaprio

  6. Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    F Rasmussen

Authors
  1. K Silventoinen
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  2. K H Pietiläinen
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  3. P Tynelius
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  4. T I A Sørensen
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  5. J Kaprio
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  6. F Rasmussen
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Correspondence to F Rasmussen.

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Silventoinen, K., Pietiläinen, K., Tynelius, P. et al. Genetic and environmental factors in relative weight from birth to age 18: The Swedish Young Male Twins Study. Int J Obes 31, 615–621 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803577

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