Soft tissue facial resemblance in families and syndrome-affected individuals

Abstract

We investigated soft tissue facial resemblance among relatives with or without syndromes and among related and unrelated individuals diagnosed with the same syndrome. Using correlation coefficients, we compared facial landmark (i.e., three-dimensional coordinate) positions and measurements gained by photogrammetry in various combinations of normal and syndrome-affected individuals. There were fewer significant correlations for the three-dimensional coordinates and measurements between the normal parent-normal child pairs than for the normal sib pairs. There was no discernible pattern for the single measurements in the parent-child pairs, whereas all of the midline vertical measurements were significantly positively correlated in the normal sib pairs. Significant correlations were always positive in all sib comparisons, but ranged from negative to positive in all parent-child correlations. The shared environment of sibs was a possible explanation for their greater resemblance in comparison with parent-child pairs. We also had measurements from 11 subjects (related and unrelated) diagnosed with one of four syndromes, and we used these to compare individuals with the same syndrome by calculating correlation coefficients based on all available pairs of measurements. The highest significant positive correlations were found for related individuals with the same syndrome (0.72 to 0.83). Unrelated individuals with the same syndrome also had significant positive correlations, but they were lower (0.35 to 0.65). We therefore inferred that the genetic similarities between unrelated individuals with syndromes played a role in the resemblance between them, and that common genes and environment in related individuals further contributed to the high correlations found for them.