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

Y1 - 2017

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

VL - 8

JO - Biology of Sex Differences

JF - Biology of Sex Differences

SN - 2042-6410

M1 - 14

ER -