Primal Health Databank: Study
| Entry No: | 0331 |
| Title: | Birthweights, early environment, and genetics: a study of twins discordant for acute myocardial infarction. |
| Author(s): | Hübinette A, Cnattingius S, Ekbom A, Kramer M, Lichtenstein P |
| Reference: | Lancet 2001; 357: 1997-2001 |
| Place of Study: | Sweden |
| Abstract: | Epidemiological studies that used birthweight as a marker of fetal growth have suggested that low birthweight is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease. Through investigation of this association within same-sexed twin pairs, confounding by genetic and postnatal environmental factors can be greatly decreased. The authors undertook a case-control study in twins discordant for acute myocardial infarction (AMI).
This study was nested within the population-based Swedish Twin Registry and linked with the national cause-of-death and hospital-discharge registries. The authors manually retrieved birth records containing information on birth and maternal characteristics for 132 same-sexed twin pairs discordant for AMI and 118 individually matched control twin pairs.
In within-pair comparisons between AMI cases and healthy co-twins, no significant differences in birth measurements were found (birthweight 2458 [510] vs 2534 [530] g, p=0·73; birth length 47·1 [2·8] vs 47·2 [2·8] cm, p=0·91; head circumference 33·0 [1·7] vs 33·0 [1·8] cm, p=0·92).
The lack of an association between birth characteristics and AMI within twin pairs suggests that previously reported associations may be influenced by genetic and early environmental factors, or possibly, by unmeasured maternal factors that operate independently of birthweight.
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| Keyword(s): | No keywords found for this entry. |
| Discussion: | One of the studies suggesting that if the same set of genes is important for birthweight and for cardiovascular disease later in life, the association between birthweight and cardiovascular disease might be explained by genetic influences rather than malnutrition in utero. |
| See Also: | No related entries mentioned for this entry |
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