title: Heritability of cardiovascular and personality traits in 6,148 Sardinians.
abstract: In family studies, phenotypic similarities between relatives yield information on the overall contribution of genes to trait variation. Large samples are important for these family studies, especially when comparing heritability between subgroups such as young and old, or males and females. We recruited a cohort of 6,148 participants, aged 14-102 y, from four clustered towns in Sardinia. The cohort includes 34,469 relative pairs. To extract genetic information, we implemented software for variance components heritability analysis, designed to handle large pedigrees, analyze multiple traits simultaneously, and model heterogeneity. Here, we report heritability analyses for 98 quantitative traits, focusing on facets of personality and cardiovascular function. We also summarize results of bivariate analyses for all pairs of traits and of heterogeneity analyses for each trait. We found a significant genetic component for every trait. On average, genetic effects explained 40% of the variance for 38 blood tests, 51% for five anthropometric measures, 25% for 20 measures of cardiovascular function, and 19% for 35 personality traits. Four traits showed significant evidence for an X-linked component. Bivariate analyses suggested overlapping genetic determinants for many traits, including multiple personality facets and several traits related to the metabolic syndrome; but we found no evidence for shared genetic determinants that might underlie the reported association of some personality traits and cardiovascular risk factors. Models allowing for heterogeneity suggested that, in this cohort, the genetic variance was typically larger in females and in younger individuals, but interesting exceptions were observed. For example, narrow heritability of blood pressure was approximately 26% in individuals more than 42 y old, but only approximately 8% in younger individuals. Despite the heterogeneity in effect sizes, the same loci appear to contribute to variance in young and old, and in males and females. In summary, we find significant evidence for heritability of many medically important traits, including cardiovascular function and personality. Evidence for heterogeneity by age and sex suggests that models allowing for these differences will be important in mapping quantitative traits.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Neurogenetica e Neurofarmacologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Ospedale Microcitemico, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pilia
authors.forename: Wei-Min
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scuteri
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Orrú
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Albai
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dei
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Usala
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Loi
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mameli
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vacca
authors.forename: Manila
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deiana
authors.forename: Nazario
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Olla
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masala
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Samer S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Najjar
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terracciano
authors.forename: Timur
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nedorezov
authors.forename: Alexei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharov
authors.forename: Alan B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Zonderman
authors.forename: Gonçalo R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Abecasis
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lakatta
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schlessinger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D041321:Chromosomes, Human, X / Q000235:genetics; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008957:Models, Genetic; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D035781:Siblings