Heritability of metabolic syndrome traits among healthy younger adults: a population based study in China.
OBJECTIVE To estimate heritability of metabolic syndrome traits among healthy younger adults in a human population in China, and examine potential sex differences in heritability and parental effect on metabolic syndrome traits. METHODS Using offspring-parent regression, we estimated heritability (h(2)) of metabolic syndrome traits based on 452 child-parent triads identified from a population based random survey on metabolic syndrome among people over 15 years of age in Guangzhou, China. RESULTS Body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and waist circumference (waist-C) were more heritable (h(2), 0.42-0.545), whereas systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and triglycerides (TG) were less heritable (h(2), 0.14-0.28). Sons had pronounced increases in heritability for all traits over daughters, particularly for cholesterol (0.653 vs 0.356), FPG (0.602 vs 0.313), LDL-C (0.521 vs 0.329), and TG (0.395 vs 0.187). Offspring-mother seemed to have a higher heritability in every trait except FPG (0.67 vs 0.794) than offspring-father, most notably for DBP (0.308 vs 0.122), SBP (0.288 vs 0.146), TG (0.387 vs 0.239) and waist-C (0.581 vs 0.354). CONCLUSION We estimated the heritability of metabolic syndrome traits in a human population based on a unique population based offspring-parent sample from China, and found important evidence that the maternal and paternal effects on these traits are different and the sex difference in heritability is pronounced.
Luo
B F
BF
Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei 230031, China.
Du
L
L
Li
J X
JX
Pan
B Y
BY
Xu
J M
JM
Chen
J
J
Yin
X Y
XY
Ren
Yq
Y
Zhang
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002681:China; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D055105:Waist Circumference; D055815:Young Adult
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol