Genetic and Environmental Factors Influencing BMI Development from Adolescence to Young Adulthood |
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Authors: | Alfredo Ortega-Alonso Kirsi H Pietil?inen Karri Silventoinen Suoma E Saarni Jaakko Kaprio |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;(2) Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, FIMM, P.O. Box 20, 00014 Helsinki, Finland;(3) Obesity Research Unit, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland;(4) Population Research Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;(5) Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland |
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Abstract: | BMI increases progressively from adolescence to young adulthood. The aims of the present study were firstly, to investigate
the extent to which genetic and environmental influences account for differences in BMI trajectories during this period, and
secondly to examine whether boys and girls show divergences in these influences, as their BMI normally start differing across
adolescence. The study sample consisted of 4,915 monozygotic and like- and unlike-sex dizygotic twins, born between 1975 and
1979. Data on BMI was gathered when twins were on average 16.1, 17.1, 18.6 and 24.4 years old. Genetic and environmental influences
on the BMI trajectories were modeled using a latent growth curve approach. The results showed that the heritability of BMI
decreased slightly after the adolescence period, from ≈80 to 70%. BMI transition from adolescence to young adulthood was best
described by a quadratic trajectory that was highly accounted (61.7–86.5%) for by additive genetic influences. Genetic influences
on BMI level showed a low correlation with those on the trend in BMI with age indicating that different sets of genes underlie
the change of BMI during this period. Importantly, the analyses also evidenced that different genetic and environmental influences
may underlie boys and girls evolution. In conclusion, our results suggested specific genetic influences accounting for the
BMI rate-of-change from adolescence to young adulthood. This indicates that the specific genes behind BMI level may not be
the same as the genes affecting BMI change which should be taken into account in further efforts to identify these genes. |
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