Heritability and genetic correlation between GERD symptoms severity, metabolic syndrome, and inflammation markers in families living in Mexico City

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to estimate the heritability (h2) and genetic correlation (ρG) between GERD symptoms severity, metabolic syndrome components, and inflammation markers in Mexican families.MethodsCross-sectional study which included 32 extended families resident in Mexico City. GERD symptoms severity was assessed by the ReQuest in Practice questionnaire. Heritability and genetic correlation were determined using the Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines software.Results585 subjects were included, the mean age was 42 (±16.7) years, 57% were women. The heritability of the severity of some GERD symptoms was h2 = 0.27, 0.27, 0.37, and 0.34 (p-value <1.0x10-5) for acidity complaints, lower abdominal complaints, sleep disturbances, and total ReQuest score, respectively. Heritability of metabolic syndrome components ranged from 0.40 for fasting plasma glucose to 0.61 for body mass index and diabetes mellitus. The heritability for fibrinogen and C-reactive protein was 0.64 and 0.38, respectively. Statistically significant genetic correlations were found between acidity complaints and fasting plasma glucose (ρG = 0.40); sleep disturbances and fasting plasma glucose (ρG = 0.36); acidity complaints and diabetes mellitus (ρG = 0.49) and between total ReQuest score and fasting plasma glucose (ρG = 0.43). The rest of metabolic syndrome components did not correlate with GERD symptoms.ConclusionGenetic factors substantially explain the phenotypic variance of the severity of some GERD symptoms, metabolic syndrome components and inflammation markers. Observed genetic correlations suggest that these phenotypes share common genes. These findings suggest conducting further investigation, as the determination of a linkage analysis in order to identify regions of susceptibility for developing of GERD and metabolic syndrome.

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Fetal Growth Vary during Sensitive Periods in Pregnancy

“…the proportion of phenotypic variance attributed to additive fetal genetic variance 15 , (2) environmental variances (shared by both twins in a pair and unique to each co-twin), and (3) genetic correlation between fetal growth measures, which measures the proportion of covariance of two traits explained by additive fetal genetics using the Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines (SOLAR) software version 7.2.5 62 ( http://solar-eclipse-genetics.org/ ). SOLAR implements a structural equation modeling approach to estimate additive genetic heritability, shared and unique environmental contributions and the best-fitting variance component models using the maximum-likelihood method 63 – 65 .…”

Prevalence and risk factors of gastro-esophageal reflux disease among undergraduate medical students from a southern Indian medical school: a cross-sectional study

“…Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is defined as a condition that develops when reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications [ 1 ]. Apart from the well- recognized complications like erosive esophagitis and Barrett’s esophagus, GERD has been linked to sleep disorders, metabolic syndrome, and coronary artery disease [ 2 – 4 ]. GERD affects almost all age groups starting from infancy.…”

Risk factors for gastroesophageal reflux disease and analysis of genetic contributors

“…A year later, Mohammed et al[ 38 ] examined 4480 pairs of twins, which inferred 30% heritability of GERD, while the same symptoms in MZ outnumbered the DZ ones. Another study of 585 individuals concerning 32 families living in Mexico revealed an association between the severity of GERD symptoms, metabolic syndrome components and inflammatory markers due to common genetic back round[ 39 ].…”