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Genetic and Environmental Variation in Menstrual Cycle: Histories of Two British Twin Samples

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

O.B.A. van den Akker ,
G.S. Stein ,
M.C. Neale  and
R.M. Murray
O.B.A. van den Akker*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK
G.S. Stein
Affiliation:
Farnborough Hospital, Kent, UK
M.C. Neale
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK
R.M. Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK
*
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF

Abstract

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Information about menstrual cycle variables was obtained by questionnaire using 462 female twin pairs. The twins were either members of the Institute of Psychiatry Volunteer Twin Register, or of the Birmingham Population-based Register. The two samples were analysed separately using univariate and multivariate methods so that an independent replication was obtained. Maximum likelihood estimation was used to fit simple models of genetic and environmental variation to these data. The results suggest that age of menarche, menstrual cycle regularity and premenstrual symptom reporting may be heritable, whereas menstrual cycle length is not. The results should be interpreted with caution as not all variables were replicated in the smaller sample, and the method of retrospective menstrual cycle data collection has been questioned.

Keywords

MenarcheMenstrual cycleTwin registerModel fitting proceduresGenetic analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 541 - 548
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1987

References

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