title: Path analysis of environmental and genetic influences on blood pressure.
abstract: Familial aggregation of a trait (determined by the intraclass correlation coefficient) may result from genetic influence or from environment common to a household. The authors used path analysis to separate aggregation into the proportion of population variability due to genetic influence (h2 = heritability) and the proportion due to environment common to a household (c2). They used data from full siblings and maternal half siblings, aged two to 18 years, from Bogalusa, Louisiana, a biracial community. The statistically significant aggregation they found could be explained by either h2 or c2 except for two cases: systolic measurement in the pooled (black and white) sample requires h2; diastolic measurement in the white sample requires c2. The authors present a simplified explanation of the techniques they used.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003241:Consanguinity; D004777:Environment; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D013223:Statistics as Topic