BACKGROUND: Lower educated people have a higher prevalence of metabolic risk factors (MRF), that is, high waist circumference (WC), high systolic blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, high triglycerides and high fasting glucose levels. Behavioural and psychosocial factors cannot fully explain this educational gradient. We aim to examine the possible role of genetic factors by estimating the extent to which education and MRF share a genetic basis and the extent to which the heritability of MRF varies across educational levels. METHODS: We examined 388 twin pairs, aged 18-34 years, from the Belgian East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. Using structural equation modelling, a Cholesky bivariate model was applied to assess the shared genetic basis between education and MRF. The heritability of MRF across education levels was estimated using a non-linear multivariate Gaussian regression. RESULTS: Fifteen percent (P < 0.01) of the negative relation between education and WC was because of genes shared between these two traits. Furthermore, the heritability of WC was lower in the lowest educated group (65%) compared with the highest educated group (78%, P = 0.04). The lower heritabilities among the lower educated twins for the other MRF were not significant. The heritability of glucose was higher in the lowest education (80%) group compared with the high education group (67%, P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that genetic factors partly explain educational differences in WC. Furthermore, the lower heritability estimates in WC in the lower educated young adults suggest opportunities for environmental interventions to prevent the development of full-blown metabolic syndrome in middle and older age.
BACKGROUND: Lower educated people have a higher prevalence of metabolic risk factors (MRF), that is, high waist circumference (WC), high systolic blood pressure, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, high triglycerides and high fasting glucose levels. Behavioural and psychosocial factors cannot fully explain this educational gradient. We aim to examine the possible role of genetic factors by estimating the extent to which education and MRF share a genetic basis and the extent to which the heritability of MRF varies across educational levels. METHODS: We examined 388 twin pairs, aged 18-34 years, from the Belgian East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. Using structural equation modelling, a Cholesky bivariate model was applied to assess the shared genetic basis between education and MRF. The heritability of MRF across education levels was estimated using a non-linear multivariate Gaussian regression. RESULTS: Fifteen percent (P < 0.01) of the negative relation between education and WC was because of genes shared between these two traits. Furthermore, the heritability of WC was lower in the lowest educated group (65%) compared with the highest educated group (78%, P = 0.04). The lower heritabilities among the lower educated twins for the other MRF were not significant. The heritability of glucose was higher in the lowest education (80%) group compared with the high education group (67%, P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that genetic factors partly explain educational differences in WC. Furthermore, the lower heritability estimates in WC in the lower educated young adults suggest opportunities for environmental interventions to prevent the development of full-blown metabolic syndrome in middle and older age.
Authors: Sari Aaltonen; Antti Latvala; Aline Jelenkovic; Richard J Rose; Urho M Kujala; Jaakko Kaprio; Karri Silventoinen Journal: Med Sci Sports Exerc Date: 2020-02
Authors: Cornelius A Rietveld; Sarah E Medland; Jaime Derringer; Jian Yang; Tõnu Esko; Nicolas W Martin; Harm-Jan Westra; Konstantin Shakhbazov; Abdel Abdellaoui; Arpana Agrawal; Eva Albrecht; Behrooz Z Alizadeh; Najaf Amin; John Barnard; Sebastian E Baumeister; Kelly S Benke; Lawrence F Bielak; Jeffrey A Boatman; Patricia A Boyle; Gail Davies; Christiaan de Leeuw; Niina Eklund; Daniel S Evans; Rudolf Ferhmann; Krista Fischer; Christian Gieger; Håkon K Gjessing; Sara Hägg; Jennifer R Harris; Caroline Hayward; Christina Holzapfel; Carla A Ibrahim-Verbaas; Erik Ingelsson; Bo Jacobsson; Peter K Joshi; Astanand Jugessur; Marika Kaakinen; Stavroula Kanoni; Juha Karjalainen; Ivana Kolcic; Kati Kristiansson; Zoltán Kutalik; Jari Lahti; Sang H Lee; Peng Lin; Penelope A Lind; Yongmei Liu; Kurt Lohman; Marisa Loitfelder; George McMahon; Pedro Marques Vidal; Osorio Meirelles; Lili Milani; Ronny Myhre; Marja-Liisa Nuotio; Christopher J Oldmeadow; Katja E Petrovic; Wouter J Peyrot; Ozren Polasek; Lydia Quaye; Eva Reinmaa; John P Rice; Thais S Rizzi; Helena Schmidt; Reinhold Schmidt; Albert V Smith; Jennifer A Smith; Toshiko Tanaka; Antonio Terracciano; Matthijs J H M van der Loos; Veronique Vitart; Henry Völzke; Jürgen Wellmann; Lei Yu; Wei Zhao; Jüri Allik; John R Attia; Stefania Bandinelli; François Bastardot; Jonathan Beauchamp; David A Bennett; Klaus Berger; Laura J Bierut; Dorret I Boomsma; Ute Bültmann; Harry Campbell; Christopher F Chabris; Lynn Cherkas; Mina K Chung; Francesco Cucca; Mariza de Andrade; Philip L De Jager; Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Ian J Deary; George V Dedoussis; Panos Deloukas; Maria Dimitriou; Guðny Eiríksdóttir; Martin F Elderson; Johan G Eriksson; David M Evans; Jessica D Faul; Luigi Ferrucci; Melissa E Garcia; Henrik Grönberg; Vilmundur Guðnason; Per Hall; Juliette M Harris; Tamara B Harris; Nicholas D Hastie; Andrew C Heath; Dena G Hernandez; Wolfgang Hoffmann; Adriaan Hofman; Rolf Holle; Elizabeth G Holliday; Jouke-Jan Hottenga; William G Iacono; Thomas Illig; Marjo-Riitta Järvelin; Mika Kähönen; Jaakko Kaprio; Robert M Kirkpatrick; Matthew Kowgier; Antti Latvala; Lenore J Launer; Debbie A Lawlor; Terho Lehtimäki; Jingmei Li; Paul Lichtenstein; Peter Lichtner; David C Liewald; Pamela A Madden; Patrik K E Magnusson; Tomi E Mäkinen; Marco Masala; Matt McGue; Andres Metspalu; Andreas Mielck; Michael B Miller; Grant W Montgomery; Sutapa Mukherjee; Dale R Nyholt; Ben A Oostra; Lyle J Palmer; Aarno Palotie; Brenda W J H Penninx; Markus Perola; Patricia A Peyser; Martin Preisig; Katri Räikkönen; Olli T Raitakari; Anu Realo; Susan M Ring; Samuli Ripatti; Fernando Rivadeneira; Igor Rudan; Aldo Rustichini; Veikko Salomaa; Antti-Pekka Sarin; David Schlessinger; Rodney J Scott; Harold Snieder; Beate St Pourcain; John M Starr; Jae Hoon Sul; Ida Surakka; Rauli Svento; Alexander Teumer; Henning Tiemeier; Frank J A van Rooij; David R Van Wagoner; Erkki Vartiainen; Jorma Viikari; Peter Vollenweider; Judith M Vonk; Gérard Waeber; David R Weir; H-Erich Wichmann; Elisabeth Widen; Gonneke Willemsen; James F Wilson; Alan F Wright; Dalton Conley; George Davey-Smith; Lude Franke; Patrick J F Groenen; Albert Hofman; Magnus Johannesson; Sharon L R Kardia; Robert F Krueger; David Laibson; Nicholas G Martin; Michelle N Meyer; Danielle Posthuma; A Roy Thurik; Nicholas J Timpson; André G Uitterlinden; Cornelia M van Duijn; Peter M Visscher; Daniel J Benjamin; David Cesarini; Philipp D Koellinger Journal: Science Date: 2013-05-30 Impact factor: 47.728