We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Genetic and environmental influences on adult human height across birth cohorts from 1886 to 1994.
- Authors
Jelenkovic, Aline; Yoon-Mi Hur; Sund, Reijo; Yoshie Yokoyama; Siribaddana, Sisira H.; Hotopf, Matthew; Sumathipala, Athula; Rijsdijk, Fruhling; Qihua Tan; Dongfeng Zhang; Zengchang Pang; Aaltonen, Sari; Heikkilä, Kauko; Öncel, Sevgi Y.; Aliev, Fazil; Rebato, Esther; Tarnoki, Adam D.; Tarnoki, David L.; Christensen, Kaare; Skytthe, Axel
- Abstract
Human height variation is determined by genetic and environmental factors, but it remains unclear whether their influences differ across birth-year cohorts. We conducted an individual-based pooled analysis of 40 twin cohorts including 143,390 complete twin pairs born 1886-1994. Although genetic variance showed a generally increasing trend across the birth-year cohorts, heritability estimates (0.69-0.84 in men and 0.53-0.78 in women) did not present any clear pattern of secular changes. Comparing geographic-cultural regions (Europe, North America and Australia, and East Asia), total height variance was greatest in North America and Australia and lowest in East Asia, but no clear pattern in the heritability estimates across the birth-year cohorts emerged. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that heritability of height is lower in populations with low living standards than in affluent populations, nor that heritability of height will increase within a population as living standards improve.
- Subjects
HUMAN genetic variation; EFFECT of environment on human beings; BIRTH rate; HERITABILITY; ANTHROPOMETRY
- Publication
eLife, 2016, p1
- ISSN
2050-084X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7554/eLife.20320