Genetic and environmental relationships between Framingham Risk Score and adiposity measures in Koreans: The Healthy Twin Study

Background and aimsWe examined heritability and bivariate analyses for the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) and adiposity measures among Koreans.Methods and resultsWe analysed the data from 2496 participants (962 men, 1534 women, age 30–74 years), including 1320 non-twin family members, 468 monozygotic (MZ) and 120 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, collected from the Healthy Twin study of Korea. Adiposity measurements comprised BMI, waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-height ratio (WHTR). Analyses were conducted using the Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines (SOLAR) package software. The co-twin control analyses shows that estimates of within-pair regression coefficients in the relationship between adiposity traits and FRS were attenuated for MZ twin pairs, relative to DZ twin pairs (0.11–0.26 vs. 0.60–0.71). The heritability estimate for FRS was 0.37, and the estimates for adiposity traits ranged from 0.45 to 0.63 (P < 0.001). Bivariate analysis revealed genetic correlations between FRS, and all of the adiposity traits ranged from 0.16 (for WHTR, P > 0.05) to 0.46 (for WC, P < 0.001). The common environmental correlations between FRS and each of the adiposity traits ranged from 0.43 to 0.66 (P < 0.001).ConclusionsFRS and each of the obesity traits shared common genetic and environmental relationships. These findings support a pleiotropic action between genes associated with adiposity traits and FRS and a need of further investigations for identifying specific common environmental factors.