Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood?: A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts

Leonie H Bogl; Aline Jelenkovic; Eero Vuoksimaa; Linda Ahrenfeldt; Kirsi H Pietiläinen; Maria A Stazi; Corrado Fagnani; Cristina D'Ippolito; Yoon-Mi Hur; Hoe-Uk Jeong; Judy L Silberg; Lindon J Eaves; Hermine H Maes; Gombojav Bayasgalan; Danshiitsoodol Narandalai; Tessa L Cutler; Christian Kandler; Kerry L Jang; Kaare Christensen; Axel Skytthe; Kirsten O Kyvik; Wendy Cozen; Amie E Hwang; Thomas M Mack; Catherine A Derom; Robert F Vlietinck; Tracy L Nelson; Keith E Whitfield; Robin P Corley; Brooke M Huibregtse; Tom A McAdams; Thalia C Eley; Alice M Gregory; Robert F Krueger; Matt McGue; Shandell Pahlen; Gonneke Willemsen; Meike Bartels; Toos C E M van Beijsterveldt; Zengchang Pang; Qihua Tan; Dongfeng Zhang; Nicholas G Martin; Sarah E Medland; Grant W Montgomery; Jacob V B Hjelmborg; Esther Rebato; Gary E Swan; Ruth Krasnow; Andreas Busjahn; Paul Lichtenstein; Sevgi Y Öncel; Fazil Aliev; Laura A Baker; Catherine Tuvblad; Sisira H Siribaddana; Matthew Hotopf; Athula Sumathipala; Fruhling Rijsdijk; Patrik K E Magnusson; Nancy L Pedersen; Anna K Dahl Aslan; Juan R Ordoñana; Juan F Sánchez-Romera; Lucia Colodro-Conde; Glen E Duncan; Dedra Buchwald; Adam D Tarnoki; David L Tarnoki; Yoshie Yokoyama; John L Hopper; Ruth J F Loos; Dorret I Boomsma; Thorkild I A Sørensen; Karri Silventoinen; Jaakko Kaprio

doi:10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x

Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts

Leonie H Bogl, Aline Jelenkovic, Eero Vuoksimaa, Linda Ahrenfeldt, Kirsi H Pietiläinen, Maria A Stazi, Corrado Fagnani, Cristina D'Ippolito, Yoon-Mi Hur, Hoe-Uk Jeong, Judy L Silberg, Lindon J Eaves, Hermine H Maes, Gombojav Bayasgalan, Danshiitsoodol Narandalai, Tessa L Cutler, Christian Kandler, Kerry L Jang, Kaare Christensen, Axel SkyttheKirsten O Kyvik, Wendy Cozen, Amie E Hwang, Thomas M Mack, Catherine A Derom, Robert F Vlietinck, Tracy L Nelson, Keith E Whitfield, Robin P Corley, Brooke M Huibregtse, Tom A McAdams, Thalia C Eley, Alice M Gregory, Robert F Krueger, Matt McGue, Shandell Pahlen, Gonneke Willemsen, Meike Bartels, Toos C E M van Beijsterveldt, Zengchang Pang, Qihua Tan, Dongfeng Zhang, Nicholas G Martin, Sarah E Medland, Grant W Montgomery, Jacob V B Hjelmborg, Esther Rebato, Gary E Swan, Ruth Krasnow, Andreas Busjahn, Paul Lichtenstein, Sevgi Y Öncel, Fazil Aliev, Laura A Baker, Catherine Tuvblad, Sisira H Siribaddana, Matthew Hotopf, Athula Sumathipala, Fruhling Rijsdijk, Patrik K E Magnusson, Nancy L Pedersen, Anna K Dahl Aslan, Juan R Ordoñana, Juan F Sánchez-Romera, Lucia Colodro-Conde, Glen E Duncan, Dedra Buchwald, Adam D Tarnoki, David L Tarnoki, Yoshie Yokoyama, John L Hopper, Ruth J F Loos, Dorret I Boomsma, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Karri Silventoinen, Jaakko Kaprio

Department of Public Health

5 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on anthropometric traits, we compared mean height, body mass index (BMI), and the prevalence of being overweight or obese between men and women from OS and SS dizygotic twin pairs.

METHODS: The data were derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) database, and included 68,494 SS and 53,808 OS dizygotic twin individuals above the age of 20 years from 31 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. Zygosity was determined by questionnaires or DNA genotyping depending on the study. Multiple regression and logistic regression models adjusted for cohort, age, and birth year with the twin type as a predictor were carried out to compare height and BMI in twins from OS pairs with those from SS pairs and to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for being overweight or obese.

RESULTS: OS females were, on average, 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20, 0.41) taller than SS females. OS males were also, on average, taller than SS males, but this difference was only 0.14 cm (95% CI 0.02, 0.27). Mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight or obesity did not differ between males and females from SS and OS twin pairs. The statistically significant differences between OS and SS twins for height were small and appeared to reflect our large sample size rather than meaningful differences of public health relevance.

CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal hormonal exposure or postnatal socialization (i.e., having grown up with a twin of the opposite sex) has a major impact on height and BMI in adulthood.

Original language	English
Article number	14
Journal	Biology of Sex Differences
Volume	8
Number of pages	12
ISSN	2042-6410
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x
Publication status	Published - 27 Apr 2017

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Does the sex of one’s co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohortsFinal published version, 1.73 MBLicence: CC BY

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Bogl, L. H., Jelenkovic, A., Vuoksimaa, E., Ahrenfeldt, L., Pietiläinen, K. H., Stazi, M. A., Fagnani, C., D'Ippolito, C., Hur, Y-M., Jeong, H-U., Silberg, J. L., Eaves, L. J., Maes, H. H., Bayasgalan, G., Narandalai, D., Cutler, T. L., Kandler, C., Jang, K. L., Christensen, K., ... Kaprio, J. (2017). Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts. Biology of Sex Differences, 8, [14]. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x

Bogl, LH, Jelenkovic, A, Vuoksimaa, E, Ahrenfeldt, L, Pietiläinen, KH, Stazi, MA, Fagnani, C, D'Ippolito, C, Hur, Y-M, Jeong, H-U, Silberg, JL, Eaves, LJ, Maes, HH, Bayasgalan, G, Narandalai, D, Cutler, TL, Kandler, C, Jang, KL, Christensen, K, Skytthe, A, Kyvik, KO, Cozen, W, Hwang, AE, Mack, TM, Derom, CA, Vlietinck, RF, Nelson, TL, Whitfield, KE, Corley, RP, Huibregtse, BM, McAdams, TA, Eley, TC, Gregory, AM, Krueger, RF, McGue, M, Pahlen, S, Willemsen, G, Bartels, M, van Beijsterveldt, TCEM, Pang, Z, Tan, Q, Zhang, D, Martin, NG, Medland, SE, Montgomery, GW, Hjelmborg, JVB, Rebato, E, Swan, GE, Krasnow, R, Busjahn, A, Lichtenstein, P, Öncel, SY, Aliev, F, Baker, LA, Tuvblad, C, Siribaddana, SH, Hotopf, M, Sumathipala, A, Rijsdijk, F, Magnusson, PKE, Pedersen, NL, Aslan, AKD, Ordoñana, JR, Sánchez-Romera, JF, Colodro-Conde, L, Duncan, GE, Buchwald, D, Tarnoki, AD, Tarnoki, DL, Yokoyama, Y, Hopper, JL, Loos, RJF, Boomsma, DI, Sørensen, TIA, Silventoinen, K & Kaprio, J 2017, 'Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts', Biology of Sex Differences, vol. 8, 14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x

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abstract = "BACKGROUND: The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on anthropometric traits, we compared mean height, body mass index (BMI), and the prevalence of being overweight or obese between men and women from OS and SS dizygotic twin pairs.METHODS: The data were derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) database, and included 68,494 SS and 53,808 OS dizygotic twin individuals above the age of 20 years from 31 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. Zygosity was determined by questionnaires or DNA genotyping depending on the study. Multiple regression and logistic regression models adjusted for cohort, age, and birth year with the twin type as a predictor were carried out to compare height and BMI in twins from OS pairs with those from SS pairs and to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for being overweight or obese.RESULTS: OS females were, on average, 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20, 0.41) taller than SS females. OS males were also, on average, taller than SS males, but this difference was only 0.14 cm (95% CI 0.02, 0.27). Mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight or obesity did not differ between males and females from SS and OS twin pairs. The statistically significant differences between OS and SS twins for height were small and appeared to reflect our large sample size rather than meaningful differences of public health relevance.CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal hormonal exposure or postnatal socialization (i.e., having grown up with a twin of the opposite sex) has a major impact on height and BMI in adulthood.",

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author = "Bogl, {Leonie H} and Aline Jelenkovic and Eero Vuoksimaa and Linda Ahrenfeldt and Pietil{\"a}inen, {Kirsi H} and Stazi, {Maria A} and Corrado Fagnani and Cristina D'Ippolito and Yoon-Mi Hur and Hoe-Uk Jeong and Silberg, {Judy L} and Eaves, {Lindon J} and Maes, {Hermine H} and Gombojav Bayasgalan and Danshiitsoodol Narandalai and Cutler, {Tessa L} and Christian Kandler and Jang, {Kerry L} and Kaare Christensen and Axel Skytthe and Kyvik, {Kirsten O} and Wendy Cozen and Hwang, {Amie E} and Mack, {Thomas M} and Derom, {Catherine A} and Vlietinck, {Robert F} and Nelson, {Tracy L} and Whitfield, {Keith E} and Corley, {Robin P} and Huibregtse, {Brooke M} and McAdams, {Tom A} and Eley, {Thalia C} and Gregory, {Alice M} and Krueger, {Robert F} and Matt McGue and Shandell Pahlen and Gonneke Willemsen and Meike Bartels and {van Beijsterveldt}, {Toos C E M} and Zengchang Pang and Qihua Tan and Dongfeng Zhang and Martin, {Nicholas G} and Medland, {Sarah E} and Montgomery, {Grant W} and Hjelmborg, {Jacob V B} and Esther Rebato and Swan, {Gary E} and Ruth Krasnow and Andreas Busjahn and Paul Lichtenstein and {\"O}ncel, {Sevgi Y} and Fazil Aliev and Baker, {Laura A} and Catherine Tuvblad and Siribaddana, {Sisira H} and Matthew Hotopf and Athula Sumathipala and Fruhling Rijsdijk and Magnusson, {Patrik K E} and Pedersen, {Nancy L} and Aslan, {Anna K Dahl} and Ordo{\~n}ana, {Juan R} and S{\'a}nchez-Romera, {Juan F} and Lucia Colodro-Conde and Duncan, {Glen E} and Dedra Buchwald and Tarnoki, {Adam D} and Tarnoki, {David L} and Yoshie Yokoyama and Hopper, {John L} and Loos, {Ruth J F} and Boomsma, {Dorret I} and S{\o}rensen, {Thorkild I A} and Karri Silventoinen and Jaakko Kaprio",

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doi = "10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x",

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journal = "Biology of Sex Differences",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood?

T2 - A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts

AU - Bogl, Leonie H

AU - Jelenkovic, Aline

AU - Vuoksimaa, Eero

AU - Ahrenfeldt, Linda

AU - Pietiläinen, Kirsi H

AU - Stazi, Maria A

AU - Fagnani, Corrado

AU - D'Ippolito, Cristina

AU - Hur, Yoon-Mi

AU - Jeong, Hoe-Uk

AU - Silberg, Judy L

AU - Eaves, Lindon J

AU - Maes, Hermine H

AU - Bayasgalan, Gombojav

AU - Narandalai, Danshiitsoodol

AU - Cutler, Tessa L

AU - Kandler, Christian

AU - Jang, Kerry L

AU - Christensen, Kaare

AU - Skytthe, Axel

AU - Kyvik, Kirsten O

AU - Cozen, Wendy

AU - Hwang, Amie E

AU - Mack, Thomas M

AU - Derom, Catherine A

AU - Vlietinck, Robert F

AU - Nelson, Tracy L

AU - Whitfield, Keith E

AU - Corley, Robin P

AU - Huibregtse, Brooke M

AU - McAdams, Tom A

AU - Eley, Thalia C

AU - Gregory, Alice M

AU - Krueger, Robert F

AU - McGue, Matt

AU - Pahlen, Shandell

AU - Willemsen, Gonneke

AU - Bartels, Meike

AU - van Beijsterveldt, Toos C E M

AU - Pang, Zengchang

AU - Tan, Qihua

AU - Zhang, Dongfeng

AU - Martin, Nicholas G

AU - Medland, Sarah E

AU - Montgomery, Grant W

AU - Hjelmborg, Jacob V B

AU - Rebato, Esther

AU - Swan, Gary E

AU - Krasnow, Ruth

AU - Busjahn, Andreas

AU - Lichtenstein, Paul

AU - Öncel, Sevgi Y

AU - Aliev, Fazil

AU - Baker, Laura A

AU - Tuvblad, Catherine

AU - Siribaddana, Sisira H

AU - Hotopf, Matthew

AU - Sumathipala, Athula

AU - Rijsdijk, Fruhling

AU - Magnusson, Patrik K E

AU - Pedersen, Nancy L

AU - Aslan, Anna K Dahl

AU - Ordoñana, Juan R

AU - Sánchez-Romera, Juan F

AU - Colodro-Conde, Lucia

AU - Duncan, Glen E

AU - Buchwald, Dedra

AU - Tarnoki, Adam D

AU - Tarnoki, David L

AU - Yokoyama, Yoshie

AU - Hopper, John L

AU - Loos, Ruth J F

AU - Boomsma, Dorret I

AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I A

AU - Silventoinen, Karri

AU - Kaprio, Jaakko

PY - 2017/4/27

Y1 - 2017/4/27

N2 - BACKGROUND: The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on anthropometric traits, we compared mean height, body mass index (BMI), and the prevalence of being overweight or obese between men and women from OS and SS dizygotic twin pairs.METHODS: The data were derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) database, and included 68,494 SS and 53,808 OS dizygotic twin individuals above the age of 20 years from 31 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. Zygosity was determined by questionnaires or DNA genotyping depending on the study. Multiple regression and logistic regression models adjusted for cohort, age, and birth year with the twin type as a predictor were carried out to compare height and BMI in twins from OS pairs with those from SS pairs and to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for being overweight or obese.RESULTS: OS females were, on average, 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20, 0.41) taller than SS females. OS males were also, on average, taller than SS males, but this difference was only 0.14 cm (95% CI 0.02, 0.27). Mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight or obesity did not differ between males and females from SS and OS twin pairs. The statistically significant differences between OS and SS twins for height were small and appeared to reflect our large sample size rather than meaningful differences of public health relevance.CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal hormonal exposure or postnatal socialization (i.e., having grown up with a twin of the opposite sex) has a major impact on height and BMI in adulthood.

AB - BACKGROUND: The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on anthropometric traits, we compared mean height, body mass index (BMI), and the prevalence of being overweight or obese between men and women from OS and SS dizygotic twin pairs.METHODS: The data were derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) database, and included 68,494 SS and 53,808 OS dizygotic twin individuals above the age of 20 years from 31 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. Zygosity was determined by questionnaires or DNA genotyping depending on the study. Multiple regression and logistic regression models adjusted for cohort, age, and birth year with the twin type as a predictor were carried out to compare height and BMI in twins from OS pairs with those from SS pairs and to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for being overweight or obese.RESULTS: OS females were, on average, 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20, 0.41) taller than SS females. OS males were also, on average, taller than SS males, but this difference was only 0.14 cm (95% CI 0.02, 0.27). Mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight or obesity did not differ between males and females from SS and OS twin pairs. The statistically significant differences between OS and SS twins for height were small and appeared to reflect our large sample size rather than meaningful differences of public health relevance.CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal hormonal exposure or postnatal socialization (i.e., having grown up with a twin of the opposite sex) has a major impact on height and BMI in adulthood.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x

DO - 10.1186/s13293-017-0134-x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28465822

SN - 2042-6410

VL - 8

JO - Biology of Sex Differences

JF - Biology of Sex Differences

M1 - 14

ER -