Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2008 Oct;93(10):3965-70.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2007-2568. Epub 2008 Jul 22.

A genome-wide linkage scan for age at menarche in three populations of European descent

Carl A Anderson  1 , Gu Zhu, Mario Falchi, Stéphanie M van den Berg, Susan A Treloar, Timothy D Spector, Nicholas G Martin, Dorret I Boomsma, Peter M Visscher, Grant W Montgomery
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A genome-wide linkage scan for age at menarche in three populations of European descent

Carl A Anderson et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Oct.

Abstract

Context: Age at menarche (AAM) is an important trait both biologically and socially, a clearly defined event in female pubertal development, and has been associated with many clinically significant phenotypes.

Objective: The objective of the study was to identify genetic loci influencing variation in AAM in large population-based samples from three countries.

Design/participants: Recalled AAM data were collected from 13,697 individuals and 4,899 pseudoindependent sister-pairs from three different populations (Australia, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) by mailed questionnaire or interview. Genome-wide variance components linkage analysis was implemented on each sample individually and in combination.

Results: The mean, sd, and heritability of AAM across the three samples was 13.1 yr, 1.5 yr, and 0.69, respectively. No loci were detected that reached genome-wide significance in the combined analysis, but a suggestive locus was detected on chromosome 12 (logarithm of the odds = 2.0). Three loci of suggestive significance were seen in the U.K. sample on chromosomes 1, 4, and 18 (logarithm of the odds = 2.4, 2.2 and 3.2, respectively).

Conclusions: There was no evidence for common highly penetrant variants influencing AAM. Linkage and association suggest that one trait locus for AAM is located on chromosome 12, but further studies are required to replicate these results.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Genome-wide variance component LOD scores for Australian, Dutch, and U.K. samples plus the combined analysis. IBD estimates were calculated at 5-cM intervals, and variance-component linkage analysis was carried out using MERLIN. Genome-wide significance levels of LOD = 3.3 and LOD = 1.9 are indicative of statistically significant and suggestive loci, respectively. Candidate genes are indicated where appropriate. The centromere position is marked (▴). X chromosome marker genotypes were available only for the Australian sample, and therefore, a combined analysis of the X chromosome was not performed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kaltiala-Heino R, Kosunen E, Rimpela M 2003 Pubertal timing, sexual behaviourandself- reported depression inmiddleadolescence. J Adolesc 26:531–545 - PubMed
    1. Kaltiala-Heino R, Rimpella M, Rissanen A, Rantanen P 2001 Early puberty and early sexual activity are associated with bulimic-type eating pathology in middle adolescence. J Adolesc Health 28:346–352 - PubMed
    1. Velie EM, Nechuta S, Osuch JR 2006 Lifetime reproductive and anthropometric risk factors for breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Breast Dis 24:17–35 - PubMed
    1. Naves M, Diaz-Lopez JB, Gomez C, Rodriguez-Rebollar A, Cannata-Andia JB 2005 Determinants of incidence of osteoporotic fractures in the female Spanish population older than 50. Osteoporosis Int 16:2013–2017 - PubMed
    1. Cooper GS, Ephross SA, Weinberg CR, Baird DD, Whelan EA, Sander DP 1999 Menstrual and reproductive risk factors for ischemic heart disease. Epidemiology 10:255–259 - PubMed