TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic and environmental effects on carotid flow velocities
T2 - Aninternational twin study
AU - Lucatelli, Pierleone
AU - Tarnoki, Adam Domonkos
AU - Tarnoki, David Laszlo
AU - Giannoni, Maria Fabrizia
AU - Gazzetti, Marianna
AU - Boatta, Emanuele
AU - Zini, Chiara
AU - Cotichini, Rodolfo
AU - Baracchini, Claudio
AU - Meneghetti, Giorgio
AU - Nisticó, Lorenza
AU - Fagnani, Corrado
AU - Karlinger, Kinga
AU - Horvath, Tamas
AU - Molnar, Andrea Agnes
AU - Garami, Zsolt
AU - Medda, Emanuela
AU - Stazi, Maria Antonietta
AU - Berczi, Viktor
AU - Fanelli, Fabrizio
N1 - Funding Information:
Medexpert Ltd. has provided financial support for the maintenance of the American part of this study (travel reimbursement). The Italian part of the research was supported by the Balassi Institute–Hungarian Scholarship Board Office, Foreign Affairs of Republic of Italy and Italian Twin Registry. We would like to acknowledge the support of Twins Days Festival committee for the American part of the study. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Introduction: Altered carotid blood flow velocities (CFV) have a complex background but the underlying genetic contribution is still unclear. We sought to evaluate the influence of genetics, shared and unshared environmental components on individual differences of CFV. Methods: 193 healthy twin pairs, 126 monozygotic (MZ) and 67 dizygotic (DZ) (mean age 53±14 years) recruited in Italy, in the United States and in Hungary underwent bilateral color-coded Doppler flow assessment of the common carotid artery (CCA) and of the internal carotid artery (ICA) in order to assess the peak systolic (PSV) and end diastolic (EDV) velocities. Means of bilateral CFV values were used in the analysis. Results: Age- and country-adjusted intra-class correlations were higher in monozygotic than in dizygotic pairs for mean PSV of the ICA indicating a heritability of 63%. Unique environmental factors contributed to 37% of ICA PSV. With regards to the mean PSV and EDV of the CCA, and EDV of the ICA, heritability analysis indicated no discernible role for genetic components, while the contributions of shared and unshared environmental factors ranged between 56% and 63%, and between 37% and 44% adjusted for age and country, respectively. Mean ICA/CCA ratio was driven by unique environmental factors (82%) with modest heritability (18%). Conclusions: Our study showed that the heritability of ICA PSV and ICA/CCA ratio is moderate, while the findings do not support heritability of other investigated CFV values. Environmental effects account for a moderate to major portion of the variance. These findings support the value of early ultrasound screening as well as the prevention of modifiable environmental factors in case of altered carotid flow velocities.
AB - Introduction: Altered carotid blood flow velocities (CFV) have a complex background but the underlying genetic contribution is still unclear. We sought to evaluate the influence of genetics, shared and unshared environmental components on individual differences of CFV. Methods: 193 healthy twin pairs, 126 monozygotic (MZ) and 67 dizygotic (DZ) (mean age 53±14 years) recruited in Italy, in the United States and in Hungary underwent bilateral color-coded Doppler flow assessment of the common carotid artery (CCA) and of the internal carotid artery (ICA) in order to assess the peak systolic (PSV) and end diastolic (EDV) velocities. Means of bilateral CFV values were used in the analysis. Results: Age- and country-adjusted intra-class correlations were higher in monozygotic than in dizygotic pairs for mean PSV of the ICA indicating a heritability of 63%. Unique environmental factors contributed to 37% of ICA PSV. With regards to the mean PSV and EDV of the CCA, and EDV of the ICA, heritability analysis indicated no discernible role for genetic components, while the contributions of shared and unshared environmental factors ranged between 56% and 63%, and between 37% and 44% adjusted for age and country, respectively. Mean ICA/CCA ratio was driven by unique environmental factors (82%) with modest heritability (18%). Conclusions: Our study showed that the heritability of ICA PSV and ICA/CCA ratio is moderate, while the findings do not support heritability of other investigated CFV values. Environmental effects account for a moderate to major portion of the variance. These findings support the value of early ultrasound screening as well as the prevention of modifiable environmental factors in case of altered carotid flow velocities.
KW - Atherosclerosis
KW - Carotid velocities
KW - Heritability
KW - Twins
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2013.08.032
DO - 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2013.08.032
M3 - Article
C2 - 24267227
AN - SCOPUS:84888113974
SN - 0021-9150
VL - 231
SP - 205
EP - 210
JO - Atherosclerosis
JF - Atherosclerosis
IS - 2
ER -