Heritability of Adult Body Height

A Comparative Study of Twin Cohorts in Eight Countries

Bibliographic Data

ID23345331
AuthorsKarri Silventoinen (0000-0003-1759-3079, University of Helsinki), Sampo Sammalisto (Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland), Markus Perola (0000-0003-4842-1667, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland), Dorret I Boomsma (0000-0002-7099-7972, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Belinda K Cornes (QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute), Chayna Davis (Karolinska Institutet), Leo Dunkel (0000-0003-4008-8521, University of Helsinki), Marlies de Lange (St Thomas' Hospital), Judith Rich Harris (0000-0003-3249-8918, Norwegian Institute of Public Health), Jennifer R Harris, Jacob Hjelmborg (0000-0001-9630-9149, University of Southern Denmark), Jacob v B Hjelmborg, Margaret Luciano (0000-0002-7306-3008, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute), Michelle Luciano (0000-0003-0935-7682), Nicholas G Martins (0000-0003-4069-8020, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute), Nicholas G Martin, Jakob Mortensen (0000-0001-7479-3371, University of Southern Denmark), Lorenza Nisticò (0000-0003-1805-6240, Istituto Superiore di Sanità), Nancy L Pedersen (0000-0001-8057-3543, Karolinska Institutet), Axel Skytthe (0000-0002-8629-4913, University of Southern Denmark), Tim D Spector (0000-0002-9795-0365, St Thomas' Hospital), Maria Antonietta Stazi (0000-0001-9257-9934, Istituto Superiore di Sanità), Gonneke Willemsen (0000-0003-3755-0236, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Jaakko Kaprio (0000-0002-3716-2455, University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume6
Issue5
Pages399-408
Publication date2003-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Marketing Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1469-347X • E-ISSN: 1472-1384
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1375/136905203770326402
PMID14624724
OpenAlexW2106294125
LanguageEN
Citations received78
References cited12

A major component of variation in body height is due to genetic differences, but environmental factors have a substantial contributory effect. In this study we aimed to analyse whether the genetic architecture of body height varies between affluent western societies. We analysed twin data from eight countries comprising 30,111 complete twin pairs by using the univariate genetic model of the Mx statistical package. Body height and zygosity were self-reported in seven populations and measured directly in one population. We found that there was substantial variation in mean body height between countries; body height was least in Italy (177 cm in men and 163 cm in women) and greatest in the Netherlands (184 cm and 171 cm, respectively). In men there was no corresponding variation in heritability of body height, heritability estimates ranging from 0.87 to 0.93 in populations under an additive genes/unique environment (AE) model. Among women the heritability estimates were generally lower than among men with greater variation between countries, ranging from 0.68 to 0.84 when an additive genes/shared environment/unique environment (ACE) model was used. In four populations where an AE model fit equally well or better, heritability ranged from 0.89 to 0.93. This difference between the sexes was mainly due to the effect of the shared environmental component of variance, which appears to be more important among women than among men in our study populations. Our results indicate that, in general, there are only minor differences in the genetic architecture of height between affluent Caucasian populations, especially among men.

Additive genetic effects · Biology · Genetic architecture · Heritability · Population · Quantitative trait locus · Statistics · Twin study · Variance components · Zygosity · Demography · Genetic and Clinical Aspects of Sex Determination and Chromosomal Abnormalities · Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock · Genetic Associations and Epidemiology · Genetics · Mathematics