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A Comparison of Twin Birthweight Data From Australia, the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, and South Korea: Are Genetic and Environmental Variations in Birthweight Similar in Caucasians and East Asians?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Yoon-Mi Hur ,
Michelle Luciano ,
Nicholas G. Martin ,
Dorret I. Boomsma ,
William G. Iacono ,
Matt McGue ,
Joong Sik Shin ,
Jong Kwan Jun ,
Syuichi Ooki  and
C. E. M. van Beijsterveldt
...Show all authors
Yoon-Mi Hur*
Affiliation:
Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea. ymhur@neuroimage.snu.ac.kr
Michelle Luciano
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
Nicholas G. Martin
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Australia.
Dorret I. Boomsma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
William G. Iacono
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States of America.
Matt McGue
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States of America.
Joong Sik Shin
Affiliation:
Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Jong Kwan Jun
Affiliation:
Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
Syuichi Ooki
Affiliation:
Department of Health Science, Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University, Ishikawa, Japan.
C. E. M. van Beijsterveldt
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Jung Yeol Han
Affiliation:
Samsung Cheil Hospital & Women's Healthcare Center, Sungkyunkwan University, School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
*
*Address for correspondence: Yoon-Mi Hur, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, 156–787 South Korea.

Abstract

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Birthweight has implications for physical and mental health in later life. Using data from Caucasian twins collected in Australia, the Netherlands and the United States, and from East Asian twins collected in Japan and South Korea, we compared the total phenotypic, genetic and environmental variances of birthweight between Caucasians and East Asians. Model-fitting analyses yielded four major findings. First, for both males and females, the total phenotypic variances of birthweight were about 45% larger in Caucasians than in East Asians. The larger phenotypic variances were mainly attributable to a greater shared environmental variance of birth- weight in Caucasians (ranging from 62% to 67% of variance) than Asians (48% to 53%). Second, the genetic variance of birthweight was equal in Caucasians and East Asians for both males and females, explaining a maximum of 17% of variance. Third, small variations in total phenotypic variances of birthweight within Caucasians and within East Asians were mainly due to differences in nonshared environmental variances. We speculate that maternal effects (both genetic and environmental) explain the large shared environmental variance in birthweight and may account for the differences in phenotypic variance in birthweight between Caucasians and East Asians. Recent molecular findings and specific environmental factors that are subsumed by maternal effects are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 8 , Issue 6 , 01 December 2005 , pp. 638 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005