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Zygosity diagnosis in young twins by parental report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

MJH Rietveld ,
JC van der Valk ,
IL Bongers ,
TM Stroet ,
PE Slagboom  and
DI Boomsma
MJH Rietveld*
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, [email protected]
JC van der Valk
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam; Erasmus University, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rotterdam
IL Bongers
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam
TM Stroet
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam
PE Slagboom
Affiliation:
TNO-PG, Gaubius Laboratory, Department of Vascular and Connective Tissue Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
DI Boomsma
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam
*
*Correspondence: MJH Rietveld, Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, De Boelelaan 1111, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: + 31 20 444 8832; Tel: + 31 20 444 8812

Abstract

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This study reports on zygosity determination in twins of childhood age. Parents responded to questionnaire items dealing with twin similarity in physical characteristics and frequency of mistaking one twin for another by parents, relatives and strangers. The accuracy of zygosity diagnosis was evaluated across twins aged 6, 8, and 10 and across parents. In addition, it was examined whether the use of multiple raters and the use of longitudinal data lead to an improvement of zygosity assignment. Complete data on zygosity questions and on genetic markers or blood profiles were available for 618 twin pairs at the age of 6 years. The method used was predictive discriminant analyses. Agreement between zygosity assigned by the replies to the questions and zygosity determined by DNA markers/blood typing was around 93%. The accuracy of assignment remained constant across age and parents. Analyses of data provided by both parents and collected over multiple ages did not result in better prediction of zygosity. Details on the discriminant function are provided. Twin Research (2000) 3, 134–141.

Keywords

twin zygositychildhoodquestionnairereviewdiscriminant analysis
Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , 01 June 2000 , pp. 134 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000