Growing Old but Not Growing Apart: Twin Similarity in the Latter Half of the Lifespan

McGue, Matt; Christensen, Kaare

doi:10.1007/s10519-012-9559-5

Cited by 44 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…These estimates are completely consistent with our previous cross-sectional heritability estimates across age in Danish twin pairs (in which the present intake data was included; McGue & Christensen, 2013;McGue et al, 2015), as well as with the heritability estimates from other studies (Carmelli et al, 2000;Jansson et al, 2004;Johnson et al, 2013). In addition, we saw a considerable decline in the mean cognitive performance over 10 years, Note: rp is the phenotypic correlation, rg is the genotypic correlation, and re is the environmental correlation.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Change in Depression Symptomatology and Cognitive Function in Twins: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study

et al. 2016

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A complex interrelation exists between change in depression symptomatology and cognitive decline. Studies indicate either that depression is a direct risk factor for cognitive change over time, or vice versa. Longitudinal twin studies provide the possibility to unravel cause and effect of correlated traits. Here, we have applied twin modeling approaches to shed light on the genetic correlation between both level and change of depression symptomatology and cognitive functioning, and to further explore the bidirectionality of any such correlation using assessments of both phenotypes at two occasions 10 years apart. The study included 2,866 Danish twins with a mean age of 56.8 years at intake (range: 45-68 years). Of these, 1,267 were intact pairs. A total number of 1,582 twins (55%), of whom 557 were intact pairs, participated in the follow-up survey. We found stable cross-sectional heritability estimates of approximately 60% for general cognitive abilities and 30% for affective depressive symptoms. There was a considerable decline in the mean cognitive performance over 10 years, whereas the mean affective depression symptoms score was stable and with no genetic contribution to any individual change. Additionally, we saw a small but significant cross-trait correlation at both occasions (-0.11 and -0.09, respectively), but cross-trait cross-occasion analysis revealed no evidence that either of the two traits predicts the other over a 10-year interval. Thus, our study was not able to detect any causal association between change in depressive symptomatology and cognitive decline in middle-aged and elderly people over a 10-year interval.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Change in Depression Symptomatology and Cognitive Function in Twins: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study

et al. 2016

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“…Our study demonstrates that genetic influences, which can vary or be stable by age, are present. The findings points towards a stable heritability, which is also seen for a number of ageing-related traits in studies of twins24 in the latter half of the lifespan.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 52%

Heritability of resting heart rate and association with mortality in middle-aged and elderly twins

Jensen

Wod

Galatius

et al. 2017

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Objective Resting heart rate (RHR) possibly has a hereditary component and is associated with longevity. We used the classical biometric twin study design to investigate the heritability of RHR in a population of middle-aged and elderly twins and, furthermore, studied the association between RHR and mortality. Methods In total, 4282 twins without cardiovascular disease were included from the Danish Twin Registry, hereof 1233 twin pairs and 1816 ’single twins’ (twins with a non-participating co-twin); mean age 61.7 (SD 11.1) years; 1334 (31.2%) twins died during median 16.3 (IQR 13.8–16.5) years of follow-up assessed through Danish national registers. RHR was assessed by palpating radial pulse. Results Within pair correlations for RHR adjusted for sex and age were 0.23 (95% CI 0.14 to 0.32) and 0.10 (0.03 to 0.17) for RHR in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, respectively. Overall, heritability estimates were 0.23 (95% CI 0.15 to 0.30); 0.27 (0.15 to 0.38) for males and 0.17 (0.06 to 0.28) for females. In multivariable models adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, pulmonary function, smoking, physical activity and zygosity, RHR was significantly associated with mortality (eg, RHR >90 vs 61–70 beats per min: all-cause HR 1.56 (95% CI 1.21 to 2.03); cardiovascular 2.19 (1.30 to 3.67). Intrapair twin comparison revealed that the twin with the higher RHR was significantly more likely to die first and the probability increased with increase in intrapair difference in RHR. Conclusions RHR is a trait with a genetic influence in middle-aged and elderly twins free of cardiovascular disease. RHR is independently associated with longevity even when familial factors are controlled for in a twin design.

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“…A change in the heritability of a trait over time is not unexpected as environmental influences accumulate and may play a greater role in the variance 6. This suggests that, although measures decrease due to environmental influences, the genetic heritability of RHR is maintained with age.…”

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confidence: 99%

Heritability of resting heart rate and association with mortality in middle-aged and elderly twins

Munroe

Tinker

2017

Heart

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Growing Old but Not Growing Apart: Twin Similarity in the Latter Half of the Lifespan

Cited by 44 publications

References 37 publications

Change in Depression Symptomatology and Cognitive Function in Twins: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study

Change in Depression Symptomatology and Cognitive Function in Twins: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study

Heritability of resting heart rate and association with mortality in middle-aged and elderly twins

Heritability of resting heart rate and association with mortality in middle-aged and elderly twins

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