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Genetic Regulation of Pre-Pubertal Development of Body Mass Index: A Longitudinal Study of Japanese Twin Boys and Girls

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Abstract

We analyzed the genetic architecture of prepubertal development of relative weight to height in 216 monozygotic and 159 dizygotic complete Japanese twin pairs (52% girls). Ponderal index at birth (kg/m3) and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) from 1 to 11 years of age were used. Additive genetic factors explained the major proportion (52–74%) of the variation of BMI from 1 to 11 years of age. Environmental factors common to both co-twins also showed some effect (7–28%), but at most ages this was not statistically significant. Strong genetic tracking was found for BMI from 1 to 11 years of age, but there was also evidence for a persistent effect of common environmental factors. Our results suggest that the genetic architecture of BMI development in the Japanese population is generally similar to that found in previous twin studies in Caucasian populations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the help of Kenka Lee in the data analysis. This research was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), 2008–2012. KS and JK work in the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics. KS is additionally supported by the Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation and the Academy of Finland.

Conflict of interests statement

There is no conflict of interests to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Population Research Unit, Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Karri Silventoinen

  2. Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 41, Mannerheimintie 172, 00014, Helsinki, Finland

    Karri Silventoinen & Jaakko Kaprio

  3. Department of Mental Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Kaprio

  4. Institute for Molecular Medicine FIMM, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaakko Kaprio

  5. Department of Community Health Nursing, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshie Yokoyama

Authors
  1. Karri Silventoinen
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  2. Jaakko Kaprio
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  3. Yoshie Yokoyama
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karri Silventoinen.

Additional information

Edited by Yoon-Mi Hur.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Number of complete twin pairs and within pair intra-class correlations of ponderal index at birth and BMI from one to 11 years of age by sex and zygosity
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Silventoinen, K., Kaprio, J. & Yokoyama, Y. Genetic Regulation of Pre-Pubertal Development of Body Mass Index: A Longitudinal Study of Japanese Twin Boys and Girls. Behav Genet 41, 234–241 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-010-9380-y

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