Family study of antipyrine clearance.

Antipyrine clearance was measured in 208 healthy volunteers from 78 families. After the values had been corrected for weight and sex, antipyrine clearance was observed to be significantly correlated between siblings (r = 0.590) and between spouses (r = 0.320), but not between parents and their offspring. After the clearance values had been corrected for tobacco and oral contraceptive use, there was still no significant correlation between parents and offspring. These results are incompatible with the hypothesis that antipyrine clearance is primarily determined by genetic factors and indicate that environmental influences predominate.