Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

Allison, David B.; Neale, Michael C.; Kezis, Melissa I.; Alfonso, Vincent C.; Heshka, Stanley; Heymsfield, Steven B.

doi:10.1007/bf02359888

Cited by 84 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, previous studies in Norway, 55 Australia 56 and the United States 57 found that the spousal correlations of BMI were independent of the marriage duration and thus lent no support to the effect of marital environment. A previous Finnish study, using information on twins and their spouses, found that about half of the spousal correlation in BMI could be attributed to phenotypic assortment and half to social homogamy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this systematic review, we aimed to collect together all previous twin and adoption studies on childhood and adolescent obesity up to the age of 18 years. Using several sources, we identified nine twin and five adoption studies; all of these studies had used relative weight as an indicator of obesity. Except the two twin studies from the Korean population, all studies represented Caucasian populations. In a meta-analysis of these twin studies, we found that genetic factors had a strong effect on the variation of body mass index (BMI) at all ages. The common environmental factors showed a substantial effect in mid-childhood, but this effect disappeared at adolescence. Adoption studies supported the role of family environment in childhood obesity as correlations were found between adoptees and adoptive parents; however, correlations were substantially stronger between parents and their biological offspring, further supporting the importance of genetic factors. In the future, more studies implementing genetic and environmental measures into twin models are needed as they allow estimation of the proportion of total genetic variation explained by candidate genes and analyses of gene-environment interactions. More studies of genetic architecture in non-Caucasian populations, of gene-environment interactions, and of body composition and body fat distribution are needed. IntroductionChildhood obesity is one of the major public health problems in the modern world. In the period [2003][2004][2005][2006], 32% of the US children were classified as obese or overweight, 1 and increasing trends in childhood obesity are seen all over the world. 2 These results are especially alarming as overweight children show a high risk of becoming obese adults. 3,4 Childhood is an important period of life for health interventions as health-related behaviors are just in formation, and it seems possible to intervene for preventing the development of obesity. 5 Thus, it is crucial to further understand the background mechanisms of childhood obesity to find even more effective measures to prevent it before it begins to produce more or less irreversible health damages.Both genetic and environmental factors will probably contribute to childhood obesity. 6 Family studies have shown that obesity runs in families, although more detailed twin, adoption and family studies have shown that genetic differences between individuals explain a major proportion of the within-population variation in body mass index (BMI, kg m À2 ) in adulthood. [7][8][9] It is probable that genetic factors have an important role in childhood obesity also, but their role may be different or they may result from other genes than those that operate in adulthood. 10 The environmental factors shared by family members, such as co-twins in twin studies, have shown only a slight effect on the variation of adult BMI. 7,8 However, they may have a more important role in childhood, where parents and their offspring live together and where siblings obviously have a much greater opportu...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, this association with BMI can be underlined as well with the strong significant correlations between almost all spouses' adiposity parameters, and even between their respective evolutions over 9 y. Cross-sectional resemblances between spouses could be due to assortative mating phenomena, which involve genes and environmental factors indistinguishably. 25 However, longitudinal results suggest an important contribution of a common environment to the familial aggregation of fatness. Hunt et al 26 also showed that changes in BMI and adiposity among Canadian families significantly aggregated within families.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropometric relationships between parents and children throughout childhood: the Fleurbaix–Laventie Ville Santé Study

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND:The study of parent-child anthropometric relationships and their evolution over time may help to better understand familial risk factors for childhood obesity. METHODS: In a population-based cohort of 124 nuclear families (Fleurbaix-Laventie Ville Santé Study (FLVS) I and II), various anthropometric parameters were measured in both parents and their children, first when the children were prepubescent and again at the end of puberty. Troncular adiposity repartition was estimated by calculating troncular to peripheral skinfolds ratio and waist-to-hip circumferences ratio. Birth and infancy heights and weights were also obtained from the children's health booklets. Parent-child correlations were estimated in infancy, before and at the end of the child's puberty. A prospective analysis was performed to predict the changes in the children's measurements over puberty according to their parents' corresponding baseline values. RESULTS: BMI and weight correlations at birth were high (40.30) with the mother and low (o0.10) with the father, then they converged to an intermediate level at 2 y and remained between 0.2 and 0.3 thereafter. Correlations for waist circumference were already present at the prepubertal period and persisted on the same level at the postpubertal period, whereas correlations for subcutaneous adiposity -measured by four skinfolds -and for adiposity distribution -measured by ratios -were higher at the postpubertal period. Moreover, the prospective approach showed that mother's BMI predicted the evolution of her children's BMI over puberty, whereas this relationship was observed more specifically with the father concerning adiposity distribution parameters. CONCLUSION: Maternal adiposity may act early in life on the adiposity of the child. Maternal and paternal adiposities seem to have quite distinct effects at two key periods of the child's adiposity development such as the prenatal and pubertal periods.

show abstract

“…It is difficult to infer an assortative mating effect based on cross-sectional observations, as the spousal resemblance could arise from assortative mating, common environmental influences, or the differential survival of marriages of spouses more similar to one another. 7 However, a correlation of 0.13 for relative weight has been demonstrated among pairs of spouses, prior to marriage or cohabitation, suggesting that there is a small assortative mating effect. 7 Additionally, the spousal resemblance for BMI and SF5 did not increase over time in the 7 y follow-up (Campbell's Survey) of the CFS, suggesting that, at least over the short term, the shared household environment was not leading to increases in spousal similarity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7 However, a correlation of 0.13 for relative weight has been demonstrated among pairs of spouses, prior to marriage or cohabitation, suggesting that there is a small assortative mating effect. 7 Additionally, the spousal resemblance for BMI and SF5 did not increase over time in the 7 y follow-up (Campbell's Survey) of the CFS, suggesting that, at least over the short term, the shared household environment was not leading to increases in spousal similarity. 6 The worldwide prevalence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate, and the results of the present study suggest that genetic factors may be playing a role in the increasing rates of obesity through assortative mating for body fatness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spousal resemblance in the Canadian population: implications for the obesity epidemic

2002

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OBJECTIVE:To determine the extent of the spousal resemblance for adiposity and leanness in the Canadian population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional population survey. METHODS: The sample comprised parents and offspring from 1341 families (n ¼ 4023) of the Canada Fitness Survey. Indicators of adiposity included the body mass index (BMI) and the sum of five skinfolds (SF5). Both offspring and parents were ranked by their BMI and SF5 percentile position in the population using the entire Canada Fitness Survey database (n ¼ 15 818). RESULTS: Pearson correlations indicated significant spousal resemblance for both BMI (r ¼ 0.14; P < 0.0001) and SF5 (r ¼ 0.13; P < 0.0001). However, the magnitude of the spousal correlations varied by the adiposity status of the offspring, with spousal correlations tending to be stronger in parents of lean or obese children and lower among parents of 'average' children. Bivariate histograms indicated that among lean ( 5th percentile) and obese offspring ( 95th percentile), the parental pairs tended to cluster among the lower and higher percentiles of adiposity, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There are spousal similarities in adiposity, particularly among parents of lean or obese offspring in the Canadian population. The degree to which these similarities are due to a loading of spouses with genes predisposing to obesity or a shared household environment cannot be determined from the present study. However, these results are compatible with the notion that genes and mutations predisposing to obesity are more prevalent among obese parents while those for pronounced leanness are more prevalent among lean parents.

show abstract

Assortative mating for relative weight: Genetic implications

Cited by 84 publications

References 43 publications

The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

The genetic and environmental influences on childhood obesity: a systematic review of twin and adoption studies

Anthropometric relationships between parents and children throughout childhood: the Fleurbaix–Laventie Ville Santé Study

Spousal resemblance in the Canadian population: implications for the obesity epidemic

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About