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Assessing the heritability of anorexia nervosa symptoms using a marginal maximal likelihood approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2008

S. E. Mazzeo ,
K. S. Mitchell ,
C. M. Bulik ,
T. Reichborn-Kjennerud ,
K. S. Kendler  and
M. C. Neale
S. E. Mazzeo*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
K. S. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
C. M. Bulik
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
T. Reichborn-Kjennerud
Affiliation:
Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Institute of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
K. S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
M. C. Neale
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Human Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr S. E. Mazzeo, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842018, Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Assessment of eating disorders at the symptom level can facilitate the refinement of phenotypes. We examined genetic and environmental contributions to liability to anorexia nervosa (AN) symptoms in a population-based twin sample using a genetic common pathway model.

Method

Participants were from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Twin Panel (NIPHTP) and included all female monozygotic (MZ; 448 complete pairs and four singletons) and dizygotic (DZ; 263 complete pairs and four singletons) twins who completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) assessing DSM-IV Axis I and ICD-10 criteria. Responses to items assessing AN symptoms were included in a model fitted using the marginal maximum likelihood (MML) approach.

Results

Heritability of the overall AN diagnosis was moderate [a2=0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.0–0.50] whereas heritabilities of the specific items varied. Heritability estimates for weight loss items were moderate (a2=0.31–0.34) and items assessing weight concern when at a low weight were smaller (0.18–0.29). Additive genetic factors contributed little to the variance of amenorrhea, which was most strongly influenced by unshared environment (a2=0.16, e2=0.71).

Conclusions

AN symptoms are differentially heritable. Specific criteria such as those related to body weight and weight loss history represent more biologically driven potential endophenotypes or liability indices. The results regarding weight concern differ somewhat from those of previous studies, highlighting the importance of assessing genetic and environmental influences on variance of traits within specific subgroups of interest.

Keywords

Anorexia nervosageneticitem-factor model
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , March 2009 , pp. 463 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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