Genetic and Environmental Correlations Between Bone Mineral Density and Bone Size in Caucasians

Document Type

Article

Authors

Yuan Chen, Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China.
Yan-Fang Guo, Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China.
Shu-Feng Lei, Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China.
Yan-Bo Wang, Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China.
Hong-Wen Deng, Laboratory of Molecular and Statistical Genetics, College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, P. R. China., Departments of Orthopedic Surgery and Basic Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2411 Holmes Street, Kansas City, MO 64108., Osteoporosis Research Center and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68131.

Abstract

To explore the magnitude of common genetic and environmental effects shared by bone mineral density (BMD) and bone size (BS) in a large sample of 4,489 subjects (2,667 females and 1,822 males) from 582 Caucasian pedigrees, we performed a bivariate variance decomposition analysis to evaluate genetic correlation (ρG), environmental correlation (ρE), and phenotypic correlation (ρP) between BMD and BS at the spine and hip, as well as their “synthesized” skeletal site (bone mineral density principal component, bone size principal component) generated by principal components analysis. Significant ρG, ρE, and ρP were detected, but the shared genetic influence on BMD and BS was only 21%, 1.3%, and 11.6% at the spine, hip, and their joint variable, respectively. The results suggest that it may be important to choose both BMD and BS, especially at the hip, as surrogate phenotypes for osteoporosis genetic studies in Caucasians.

Recommended Citation

Chen, Yuan; Guo, Yan-Fang; Lei, Shu-Feng; Wang, Yan-Bo; and Deng, Hong-Wen (2007) "Genetic and Environmental Correlations Between Bone Mineral Density and Bone Size in Caucasians," Human Biology: Vol. 79: Iss. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol79/iss1/2