The estimation of the heritability of anthropometric measurements

Abstract

The relative contributions of genetic and environmental components in the variability of anthropometric measurements were studied in 54 twin pairs. Thirty pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and 24 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) twins were investigated to estimate the role of genetic, environmental and hereditary factors determining anthropometric measurements comprising body weight, standing height, sitting height, knee height, arm span, chest circumference and biiliac diameter. Within-pair variance for all the measurements were significantly smaller (p < 0.05-0.01) in MZ twins than in DZ twins of both-sex twin group. Within-pair correlations for those measurements were higher (p < 0.01) in both MZ and DZ twins. Correlation values were, apparently, higher more in MZ than in DZ twins. Besides, all the measurements are highly heritable components and heritability estimates ranged 40%-91%. When both MZ and DZ twin pairs of both-sex population were classified, based on age and sex, into different sub-groups interindividual variabilities were altered to a certain degrees. These data state that anthropometric measurements are influenced by genetic factors than environmental factors and besides, age and sex are possibly associated, to some extent, with the genetic influence upon anthropometric measurements.