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Heritability and Validity of Healthy Physical Aging (Wellness) in Elderly Male Twins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Terry Reed  and
Danielle M. Dick
Terry Reed*
Affiliation:
Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA. [email protected]
Danielle M. Dick
Affiliation:
Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA.
*
*Address for correspondence: Terry E. Reed, PhD, Department of Medical & Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, 975 W. Walnut Street, IB — 130, Indianapolis, IN 46202 USA

Abstract

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The authors define a trait “wellness” for good health in 6109 men in the National Academy of Sciences-National Research (NAS-NRC) twin panel aged 70 years and up surveyed by mail in the fall of 1998. Men who responded that they had not had a heart attack, coronary surgery, stroke, diabetes or prostate cancer in the survey questionnaire (Q8) met the broad definition of wellness. A more narrow definition included the absence of hypertension. Genetic analysis indicated that over 50% of the population variance for liability to either wellness definition was genetic. A subset of the NASNRC twins also participates in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) twin study. NHLBI examinations and medical record review was done in 1986–1987 and 1995–1997 for 389 individuals who completed Q8. Excellent agreement (kappa > 0.8) was found between Q8 and outcome review for each condition comprising the wellness definition, ranging from 0.81 for coronary surgery to 0.88 for diabetes. Substantial agreement (kappa = 0.67) was found for hypertension. Kappa values for wellness were 0.82 for the broader definition and 0.74 if high blood pressure was included. Fraternal twin-pairs concordant for the wellness definitions are currently being recruited for linkage studies.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , 01 June 2003 , pp. 227 - 234
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003