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Effects of Chorion Type on Genetic and Environmental Influences on Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index in South Korean Young Twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Yoon-Mi Hur
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea.
Jung-Sik Shin*
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine Pochon CHA University, CHA General Hospital, Seoul, South Korea. jmjyjw@hanmail.net
*
*Address for correspondence: Jung-Sik Shin, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine Pochon CHA University, CHA General Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

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The present study examined the effects of chorionicity of twins on variations of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) during childhood in the classical twin design. Mothers of 81 pairs of monochorionic monozygotic (MCMZ), 47 pairs of dichorionic monozygotic (DCMZ), and 457 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins drawn from the South Korean Twin Registry reported their children's height and weight. Twins' age ranged from 1.9 to 8.7 yrs, with a mean of 4.0 yrs and SD of 1.7 yrs. We computed maximum likelihood twin correlations and performed model-fitting analyses. In correlational and model-fitting analyses, we treated age and sex as covariates to control their main effects. Maximum likelihood MCMZ, DCMZ, and DZ twin correlations were, respectively, .96, .92, and .74, for height, .88, .91, and .57 for weight, and .93, .92, and .61 for BMI. The pattern of these twin correlations suggested very modest chorion effects on body measures. Model-fitting analyses confirmed the observations from twin correlations. Whereas genetic and shared environmental influences were significant for all three body measures, chorion effects attained statistical significance only for height (4%), and those for weight and BMI were zero. These findings indicate that genetic and environmental estimates for height, weight, and BMI during childhood are biased little by the chorion type of MZ twins, supporting the validity of the equal prenatal environment assumption in the classical twin design.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008