Does the sex of one's co-twin affect height and BMI in adulthood? : A study of dizygotic adult twins from 31 cohorts

Background: The comparison of traits in twins from opposite-sex (OS) and same-sex (SS) dizygotic twin pairs is considered a proxy measure of prenatal hormone exposure. To examine possible prenatal hormonal influences on anthropometric traits, we compared mean height, body mass index (BMI), and the prevalence of being overweight or obese between men and women from OS and SS dizygotic twin pairs. Methods: The data were derived from the COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) database, and included 68,494 SS and 53,808 OS dizygotic twin individuals above the age of 20 years from 31 twin cohorts representing 19 countries. Zygosity was determined by questionnaires or DNA genotyping depending on the study. Multiple regression and logistic regression models adjusted for cohort, age, and birth year with the twin type as a predictor were carried out to compare height and BMI in twins from OS pairs with those from SS pairs and to calculate the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for being overweight or obese. Results: OS females were, on average, 0.31 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20, 0.41) taller than SS females. OS males were also, on average, taller than SS males, but this difference was only 0.14 cm (95% CI 0.02, 0.27). Mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight or obesity did not differ between males and females from SS and OS twin pairs. The statistically significant differences between OS and SS twins for height were small and appeared to reflect our large sample size rather than meaningful differences of public health relevance. Conclusions: We found no evidence to support the hypothesis that prenatal hormonal exposure or postnatal socialization (i.e., having grown up with a twin of the opposite sex) has a major impact on height and BMI in adulthood.
Funding Agencies:Centre of Research Excellence from the National Health and Medical Research Council 1079102 California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program 7RT-0134H 8RT-0107H 6RT-0354H National Institutes of Health 1R01ESO15150-01 National Institute on Aging 1RO1-AG13662-01A2 NIDA DA011015 Longitudinal Twin Study HD10333 National Program for Research Infrastructure from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation Research Council for Health and Disease Velux Foundation US National Institute of Health P01 AG08761 MagW/ZonMW 04-61-090 985-10-002 912-10-020 904-61-193 480-04-004 463-06-001 451-04-034 400-05-717 Addiction-31160008 Middelgroot-911-09-032 Spinozapremie 56-464-14192 VU University's Institute for Health and Care Research (EMGO+) European Research Council ERC-230374 Avera Institute Sioux Falls South Dakota (USA) National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA-12502 AA-00145 AA-09203 Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics 213506 129680 Academy of Finland 100499 205585 118555 141054 265240 263278 264146 Osaka University's International Joint Research Promotion Program Fund of Scientific Research, Flanders and Twins W T Grant Foundation University of London Central Research fund Medical Research Council Training Fellowship G81/343 Career Development Award G120/635 Economic and Social Research Council RES-00022-2206 Institute of Social Psychiatry 06/07-11 Leverhulme Research Fellowship RF/2/RFG/2008/0145 Goldsmiths, University of London Medexpert Ltd., Budapest, Hungary Fundacion Seneca, Regional Agency for Science and Technology, Murcia, Spain 08633/PHCS/08 15302/PHCS/10 19479/PI/14 Ministry of Science and Innovation Spain PSI2009