American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on May 26, 2006
American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 164(3):246-256; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj188
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Original Contribution |
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Variation in Balance Performance among Female Twin Pairs Aged 21–82 Years
1 Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2 Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
3 National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
4 Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
5 Centre for Genetic Epidemiology, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
6 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Correspondence to Prof. John D. Wark, Department of Medicine, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia (e-mail: jdwark{at}unimelb.edu.au).
Genetic and environmental influences on variation in balance performance were measured in 93 monozygous and 83 dizygous female twin pairs aged 21–82 years (mean age, 50.5 years) in Melbourne, Australia, between 1999 and 2003. The authors administered clinical (Lord's Balance Test and Step Test) and laboratory tests of static and dynamic balance from the Chattecx Balance System with and without distractor tasks. The authors conducted factor analysis and estimated genetic and environmental variance components and heritability (defined as additive genetic variance as a proportion of all variance, after adjustment for age) using a multivariate normal model with the statistical package FISHER. Three factors were identified and adjusted for age. Heritability was 46% (standard error (SE), 9) for the "sensory balance tests" factor and 30% (SE, 9) for the "static and dynamic perturbations" factor. For both factors, the remaining variance was attributed to unique environmental effects. There was no evidence that genetic factors influenced variation in the "dynamic weight shift tests" factor, with environmental effects shared by twins accounting for 38% (SE, 7) of variance. Neither genetic nor environmental proportions of variance differed significantly between twin subgroups by age (
50/>50 years). An age-related decline in performance measures was found across the whole sample. These results imply that balance impairments may have a heritable element.
genetics; models, genetic; musculoskeletal equilibrium; posture; twins
Abbreviations: CBS, Chattecx Balance System; DZ, dizygous; LBT, Lord's Balance Test; MZ, monozygous
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