A Registry of Adult African American Twins: The Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging

Whitfield, Keith E.

doi:10.1017/thg.2012.79

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Zygosity was determined using an algorithm based on responses to standard questions regarding similarity (Nichols and Bilbro, 1966). Zygosity for both members of 940 EA and 150 AA twin pairs was confirmed using genotyping, yielding 90.2% and 92.7% accuracy, respectively, which is broadly consistent with reports on other samples of European (Eaves et al, 1989; Reed et al, 2005) and African descent (Whitfield, 2012). …”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

Phenotypic and familial associations between childhood maltreatment and cannabis initiation and problems in young adult European-American and African-American women

Grant

Agrawal

Werner³

et al. 2017

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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Background Childhood maltreatment is a known risk factor for cannabis initiation and problem use, but the extent to which this association is attributable to shared familial influences is unknown. We estimate the magnitude of associations between childhood maltreatment, timing of cannabis initiation, and cannabis-related problems, in European-American (EA) and African-American (AA) women, and parse the relative influence of additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and individual-specific environmental (E) factors on these constructs and their covariation. Methods Data were from diagnostic telephone interviews conducted with 3,786 participants (14.6% AA) in a population-based study of female twins. Logistic regression analyses and twin modeling were used to test for associations, and estimate the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences to childhood maltreatment and cannabis outcomes and their covariation. Results Maltreatment was significantly associated with increased likelihood of cannabis initiation before age 15 among EAs (OR=6.33) and AAs (OR=3.93), but with increased likelihood of later initiation among EAs only (OR=1.68). Maltreatment was associated with cannabis problems among both groups (EA OR=2.32; AA OR=2.03). Among EA women, the covariation between maltreatment and cannabis outcomes was primarily attributable to familial environment (rC=0.67–0.70); among AAs, only individual-specific environment contributed (rE=0.37–0.40). Conclusion Childhood maltreatment is a major contributor to early initiation of cannabis as well as progression to cannabis problems in both AA and EA women. Distinctions by race/ethnicity are not in the relative contribution of genetic factors, but rather in the type of environmental influences that contribute to stages of cannabis involvement.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 85%

Phenotypic and familial associations between childhood maltreatment and cannabis initiation and problems in young adult European-American and African-American women

Grant

Agrawal

Werner³

et al. 2017

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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“…Participants were members of the Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA, N = 706; Whitfield, Brandon, Wiggins, Vogler, & McClearn, 2003) which examines childhood characteristics and health status in a sample of African American twins born in North Carolina. Full details about the sample are reported elsewhere (Whitfield, 2013). Briefly, the CAATSA sample was drawn from records of twin births between the years of 1913 and 1975 from 23 vital statistics offices in North Carolina counties, U.S.A.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and criminal justice system involvement among African American siblings

Beckley

Palmer

Rocque

et al. 2019

SSM - Population Health

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ImportanceHealth disparities between African Americans and Whites have persisted in the United States. Researchers have recently hypothesized that the relatively poor health of African Americans may be caused, in part, by African American overrepresentation in the criminal justice system.ObjectivesTo test the hypothesis that criminal justice system involvement is associated with poor health and greater health risk when controlling for unobserved family factors through a discordant sibling design.MethodsSubjects were drawn from the Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA). Criminal conviction records were extracted from North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety. Six measures of health and one measure of health risk were analyzed. The health of convicted respondents was compared to that of unrelated non-convicted respondents matched on childhood and demographic factors (“matched sample”). Convicted respondents were also compared to non-convicted siblings (“discordant sibling sample”).ResultsThe matched sample included 134 CAATSA respondents. On average, convicted CAATSA respondents, compared to matched non-convicted respondents, were in worse health. Convicted respondents had worse mean self-reported health, worse lung function, more depressive symptoms, and smoked more. The discordant sibling sample included 74 respondents. Convicted siblings and non-convicted siblings had similar self-reported health, depressive symptoms, and smoking. In general, non-convicted siblings were in worse health than non-convicted respondents from the matched sample, implying that poor health runs in families.ConclusionsThis study provided preliminary evidence that some of the association between a criminal record and poor health is confounded by family factors. Though more research is needed to support these results, the study suggests that criminal involvement may not be associated with the surfeit of health problems observed among African Americans. The criminal justice system, nonetheless, could be used to decrease the health disparity.

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“…The three US studies include the Carolina African-American Twin Study of Aging (CAATSA) [ 29 ], the twin sample of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) [ 30 ], and the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA) [ 31 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Likelihood of Dementia in the Absence of Diagnostic Data: A Latent Dementia Index in 10 Genetically Informed Studies

Beam

Luczak

Panizzon

et al. 2022

JAD

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Background: Epidemiological research on dementia is hampered by differences across studies in how dementia is classified, especially where clinical diagnoses of dementia may not be available. Objective: We apply structural equation modeling to estimate dementia likelihood across heterogeneous samples within a multi-study consortium and use the twin design of the sample to validate the results. Methods: Using 10 twin studies, we implement a latent variable approach that aligns different tests available in each study to assess cognitive, memory, and functional ability. The model separates general cognitive ability from components indicative of dementia. We examine the validity of this continuous latent dementia index (LDI). We then identify cut-off points along the LDI distributions in each study and align them across studies to distinguish individuals with and without probable dementia. Finally, we validate the LDI by determining its heritability and estimating genetic and environmental correlations between the LDI and clinically diagnosed dementia where available. Results: Results indicate that coordinated estimation of LDI across 10 studies has validity against clinically diagnosed dementia. The LDI can be fit to heterogeneous sets of memory, other cognitive, and functional ability variables to extract a score reflective of likelihood of dementia that can be interpreted similarly across studies despite diverse study designs and sampling characteristics. Finally, the same genetic sources of variance strongly contribute to both the LDI and clinical diagnosis. Conclusion: This latent dementia indicator approach may serve as a model for other research consortia confronted with similar data integration challenges.

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A Registry of Adult African American Twins: The Carolina African American Twin Study of Aging

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

Phenotypic and familial associations between childhood maltreatment and cannabis initiation and problems in young adult European-American and African-American women

Phenotypic and familial associations between childhood maltreatment and cannabis initiation and problems in young adult European-American and African-American women

Health and criminal justice system involvement among African American siblings

Estimating Likelihood of Dementia in the Absence of Diagnostic Data: A Latent Dementia Index in 10 Genetically Informed Studies

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