Asthma and Height in Twins: A Cohort and Within-Pair Analyses Study

Abstract

In singletons, asthma may be associated with shorter height and delayed growth during adolescence. Yet, these studies do not account for heritability of asthma, puberty/menarche, and height. We aimed to study the association between asthma and puberty in boys and menarche in girls, and height, in a cohort of twins and subsequently in same-sex twin pairs discordant for asthma. From a Swedish twin cohort, parentand self-reported data on asthma, puberty/menarche, and height were collected. Pubertal staging was established via the Petersen index. Logistic and linear regression was used to estimate associations between asthma and puberty/menarche and height, respectively. For within-pair analyses in twins discordant for asthma, conditional logistic and linear regression were used. Data on 2,658 (49.1% boys) twins were included. Among boys, asthma prevalence was 8.2% at 8-9 years and 10.2% at 13-14 years. Corresponding numbers for girls were 4.2% and 4.9%, respectively. In the entire cohort, no statistically significant associations were found between current asthma and puberty/menarche. Boys with asthma were shorter than boys without asthma at 8-9 years (on average, 1.86 [0.17-3.56] cm, p = .03) and at 13-14 years (on average, 2.94 [0.98-4.91] cm, p = .003) but not at 19-20 years. No such associations were found for girls. Within same-sex twin pairs discordant for asthma, no statistically significant associations were found for either sex. Twin boys, but not girls, with asthma were shorter than those without asthma. Non-statistically significant estimates from within-pair analyses suggest the association is partly confounded by genetic or familial environmental factors.

Endogenous and exogenous sex steroid hormones in asthma and allergy in females: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A total of 22,488 records were retrieved, of which 64 articles (reporting 57 studies) met the criteria to be included in the review. E5 , E10 , E11 , E12 , E13 , E14 , E15 , E16 , E17 , E18 , E19 , E20 , E21 , E22 , E23 , E24 , E25 , E26 , E27 , E28 , E29 , E30 , E31 , E32 , E33 , E34 , E35 , E36 , E37 , E38 , E39 , E40 , E41 , E42 , E43 , E44 , E45 , E46 , E47 , E48 , E49 , E50 , E51 , E52 , E53 , E54 , E55 , E56 , E57 , E58 , E59 , E60 , E61 , E62 , E63 , E64 , E65 , E66 , E67 , E68 , E69 , E70 , E71 , E72 In total, 554,293 participants were analyzed across the included studies. Of the 57 studies, 22 were included in at least ...…”

“…Twenty-six studies exclusively investigated endogenous hormones, 20 exclusively investigated exogenous hormones, and 11 investigated both. Of the 37 studies on endogenous hormones, 9 focused on puberty, E13 , E24 , E28 , E33 , E35 , E53 , E54 , E56 , E67 , E70 22 on menarche, E14 , E21 , E23 , E24 , E25 , E29 , E30 , E31 , E34 , E37 , E38 , E43 , E44 , E45 , E48 , E50 , E53 , E54 , E56 , E57 , E60 , E62 , E63 , E64 , E71 , E72 5 on menstruation, E22 , E25 , E30 , E43 , E44 , E45 , E66 and 11 on menopause. E15 , E17 , E27 , E32 , E36 , E39 , E40 , E42 , E43 , E44 , E45 , E62 , E63 , E64 , E68 , E69 Of the 31 studies on exogenous hormones, 17 focussed on hormonal contraceptives (15 observational E23 , E26 , E29 ,…”

Polymorphisms of RAD50, IL33 and IL1RL1 are associated with atopic asthma in Chinese population

“…Because asthma runs strongly in families, genetic determinants can be used to elucidate the inheritable causes of asthma. It is well accepted that asthma is a complex disease with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to its development . Twin studies provided early evidence of genetic influence on the development of asthma .…”

The Value of Twins for Health and Medical Research: A Third of a Century of Progress

“…The co-twin control model is a type of twin differences model that focuses exclusively on MZ pairs who are discordant either for a disease or for an exposure, such as an environmental factor. This model has recently been used to investigate environmental contributions to the associations between BMI and cardiovascular disease (Song et al, 2015), between height and asthma (Protudjer et al, 2015) and between pain risk factors and low back pain (Oliveira et al, 2015). One notable study with this design demonstrated that smoking was associated with a reduction of 5-10% in bone density, thereby conferring a high risk of fracture (Hopper & Seeman, 1994).…”