The role of heredity in determining central retinal thickness.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relative roles of genetic and environmental factors in central retinal thickness, by performing a classical twin study.


METHODS
310 subjects were recruited from the TwinsUK adult registry at St Thomas' Hospital. Optical coherence tomography (Zeiss, stratus OCT3) was used to measure the average retinal thickness in the central 1 mm diameter area. The covariance of central retinal thickness (CRT), within MZ and DZ twin pairs, was compared and genetic modelling techniques were used to determine the relative contributions of genes and environment to the variation in CRT observed in this population.


METHODS
CRT (average retinal thickness in the central 1 mm diameter area, centred on the fovea).


RESULTS
The mean CRT of all subjects was 212.1 microm (range 165-277). CRT was statistically related to refractive error, with increasing myopia associated with a thinner CRT. CRT was more highly correlated within MZ twin pairs (r = 0.88) than with DZ twin pairs (r = 0.58), suggesting a genetic role. A model combining additive genetic and unique environmental factors provided the best fitting model and gave a heritability estimate of 0.90.


CONCLUSIONS
Genetic factors appear to play an important role in CRT, with a heritability estimate of 0.90.
Liew
S H Melissa
SH
Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
Gilbert
Clare E
CE
Spector
Tim D
TD
Marshall
John
J
Hammond
Christopher J
CJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012030:Refractive Errors / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D012042:Registries; D012160:Retina / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics*; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics*