Family resemblance for serum uric acid in a Jerusalem sample of families

Abstract

Familial aggregation of serum uric acid was studied in a sample of families examined in the Jerusalem Lipid Research Clinic. We first examined homogeneity of familial correlations across the major origin groups in the Israeli population sample. In general correlations were homogeneous across origin groups, except for spouse pairs. Pooled correlations among biological relatives across the origin groups were all statistically significant. Spouse correlation upon adjustment for concomitant variables was moderately positive (r = 0.115), yet significantly different from zero. Genetic and cultural determinants of uric acid were estimated utilizing a path model with 10 parameters to be estimated from a total of 16 correlations. Under a reduced model, genetic heritability (h2) was estimated to be 0.47 +/- 0.05 and cultural heritability (c2) was 0.11 +/- 0.03. However, our data gave suggestive evidence that cultural heritability was higher in parents (c2 = 0.28) than in children (c2 = 0.10). Commingling analysis and segregation analysis were also performed, and our findings imply that in the Israeli population there is no evidence for a major gene for high uric acid levels segregating in families.