Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:36:55.914Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No Evidence of Genetic Mediation in the Association Between Birthweight and Academic Performance in 2,413 Danish Adolescent Twin Pairs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Inge Petersen ,
Vibeke Myrup Jensen ,
Matt McGue ,
Paul Bingley  and
Kaare Christensen
Inge Petersen*
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark. [email protected]
Vibeke Myrup Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Denmark; The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Denmark.
Matt McGue
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark; Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, United States of America.
Paul Bingley
Affiliation:
The Danish National Centre for Social Research, Denmark.
Kaare Christensen
Affiliation:
The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
*
*Address for correspondence: Inge Petersen, The Danish Twin Registry, Epidemiology, University of Southern Denmark, 5000 Odense C, Denmark.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Evidence of a positive association between birthweight and IQ has been established in several studies. Analyses of within twin pair differences in birthweight and IQ have been used to shed light on the basis of the association. The strength of this approach is the possibility of controlling for both unmeasured common childhood–environmental factors as well as genetic factors shared by the co-twins. Two twin studies suggest the existence of genetic mediation between birthweight and IQ, that is, common genetic factors influence both fetal growth and IQ in childhood, while two other twin studies find no evidence of such mediation. In the present study we use a large population-based national register study of 2,413 Danish twin-pairs from birth cohorts 1986–1990, of which we have zygosity information on 74%. We perform individual level as well as intra-pair analyses of birthweight and school achievements at age 16. For both sexes we observed a monotonic increase in academic performance with increasing percentiles of birthweight. However, we did not find that this association is due to genetic mediation.

Keywords

twinsacademic performancegenetic mediationbirthweight
Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 12 , Issue 6 , 01 December 2009 , pp. 564 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009