Zygosity Differences in Height and Body Mass Index of Twins From Infancy to Old Age: A Study of the CODATwins Project

Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
Aline JelenkovicKarri Silventoinen

Abstract

A trend toward greater body size in dizygotic (DZ) than in monozygotic (MZ) twins has been suggested by some but not all studies, and this difference may also vary by age. We analyzed zygosity differences in mean values and variances of height and body mass index (BMI) among male and female twins from infancy to old age. Data were derived from an international database of 54 twin cohorts participating in the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins), and included 842,951 height and BMI measurements from twins aged 1 to 102 years. The results showed that DZ twins were consistently taller than MZ twins, with differences of up to 2.0 cm in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.9 cm in adulthood. Similarly, a greater mean BMI of up to 0.3 kg/m2 in childhood and adolescence and up to 0.2 kg/m2 in adulthood was observed in DZ twins, although the pattern was less consistent. DZ twins presented up to 1.7% greater height and 1.9% greater BMI than MZ twins; these percentage differences were largest in middle and late childhood and decreased with age in both sexes. The variance of height was similar in MZ and DZ twins at most ages. In contrast, the variance of BMI was significantly higher in DZ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 8, 2017·Behavior Genetics·Liang HeMikko J Sillanpää
Dec 29, 2017·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Athula SumathipalaJeffrey M Craig
Oct 5, 2017·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Karri SilventoinenJaakko Kaprio
Mar 22, 2016·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Yoshie YokoyamaKarri Silventoinen
Aug 12, 2019·Pediatric Research·Nadia LiottoFabio Mosca
Jan 28, 2020·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Jeffrey M CraigDedra Buchwald
Jul 3, 2019·Clinical Epigenetics·Toby MansellUNKNOWN Barwon Infant Study Investigator Team
Mar 25, 2017·International Journal of Epidemiology·Karri SilventoinenJaakko Kaprio
Feb 6, 2020·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Xiaohu DingMingguang He
Aug 1, 2019·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·K SilventoinenJ Kaprio

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