Heritability of Multivariate Factors of the Metabolic Syndrome in Nondiabetic Japanese Americans
- Melissa A. Austin1,
- Karen L. Edwards1,
- Marguerite J. McNeely2,
- Wayne L. Chandler3,
- Donna L. Leonetti4,
- Philippa J. Talmud5,
- Steve E. Humphries5 and
- Wilfred Y. Fujimoto6
- 1Department of Epidemiology and Institute for Public Health Genetics, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 2Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 3Laboratory Medicine, Harborview Medical Center University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 4Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- 5Centre for Cardiovascular Genetics, Department of Medicine, Royal Free and University College London, London, U.K.
- 6Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Melissa A. Austin, PhD, Department of Epidemiology, 1959 N.E. Pacific Ave, Box 357236, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-7236. E-mail: maustin{at}u.washington.edu
Abstract
A rapidly growing body of evidence demonstrates important associations between the metabolic syndrome, characterized by a cluster of risk factors or phenotypes that include dyslipidemia, central obesity, hypertension, and hyperinsulinemia, and both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The purpose of the present study was to characterize the metabolic syndrome in a sample of 432 individuals from 68 Japanese-American families, using factor analysis of quantitative phenotypes, and to estimate the heritability of these independent factors. Using nine characteristic phenotypes that included LDL particle size and C-reactive protein (CRP), factor analysis identified three multivariate factors interpreted as lipids, body fat/insulin/glucose/CRP, and blood pressure, explaining 65% of the variance. Heritability analysis revealed significant genetic effects on all of the factors: lipids (h2 = 0.52, P < 0.001), body fat/insulin/glucose/CRP (h2 = 0.27, P = 0.016), and blood pressure (h2 = 0.25, P = 0.026). This analysis shows that independent, multivariate factors of the metabolic syndrome are heritable, demonstrating genetic influences on the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of the syndrome.
Footnotes
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- Accepted January 13, 2004.
- Received August 26, 2003.
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