scholarly journals Increasing Phenotypic and Genetic variations in Hyperactivity/Inattention Problems from Age 3 to 13 Years: A Cross-Sectional Twin Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 545-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon-Mi Hur
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Model Fitting ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Environmental Variance ◽  
Twin Design ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Strengths And Difficulties

A twin design was used to examine the developmental nature of genetic, environmental, and phenotypic variations in hyperactivity and inattention problems (HIP). Mothers of 662 complete pairs of twins (273 monozygotic [MZ] pairs and 389 dizygotic [DZ] pairs) aged from 3 to 13 years (mean [SD] age = 8.3 [2.9] years) responded to the items of the HIP scale of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire via a telephone interview. Maximum likelihood MZ and DZ twin correlations in the total sample were 0.47 (95% CI: 0.37–0.55) and −0.01 (95% CI: −0.11–0.09). A standard univariate model incorporating age as a modifier was applied to the raw data. Results of model-fitting analyses showed that the phenotypic variation of HIP monotonically increased from age 3 to age 12 and that this increase was completely due to an increase in genetic variance, suggesting that it is genes that expand individual difference in ADHD symptoms with age during childhood. Child-specific environmental variance was constant during this age period. In terms of relative influences, total genetic factors increased from 33% (95% CI: 27–44%) at age 3 to 51% (95% CI: 28–71%) at age 13 and this increase was accompanied by a decrease in relative influences of child-specific environmental factors from 67% (95% CI: 56–73%) at age 3 to 49% (95% CI: 29–72%) at age 13. These estimates of genetic influences were somewhat lower than those found in most twin studies of ADHD symptoms. However, the increasing trend of genetic influences with age during childhood was consistent with the results of a recent meta-analysis of ADHD symptoms.

scholarly journals Food Insecurity and Bullying Victimization Among 170,618 Adolescents in 59 Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaixin Liang ◽  
Xinli Chi ◽  
Si-Tong Chen ◽  
Cain Craig Truman Clark ◽  
Yanjie Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Bullying Victimization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
School Based

Background: Bullying victimization can impose long-lasting impacts on adolescent's current and subsequent well-being. Understanding the correlates of bullying victimization and how to prevent its occurrence is an urgent need. Food insecurity, an indicator of low socioeconomic status, may be related to bullying victimization. However, research on the association between food insecurity and bullying victimization is limited. Using a representative global sample, this study aimed to investigate the association between food insecurity and bullying victimization in adolescents and whether the association varied between country income levels, sexes, and age groups.Methods: Using cross-sectional, school-based data by 170,618 adolescents in 59 countries from the Global School-based Student Health Survey, multivariable logistic regression and meta-analysis were conducted to investigate the overall, country-stratified, sex-stratified, and age-stratified associations.Results: The prevalence of bullying victimization was 33.3%. In the total sample, adolescents with food insecurity showed significantly higher odds for bullying victimization than those without no food insecurity with a pooled odds ratio (OR) being 1.37 (1.28, 1.47). Further, the association was stronger in higher-income countries, females, and older adolescents.Conclusions: Bullying victimization is prevalent among global adolescents with food insecurity being a significant correlate. The identification of adolescents with perceptions of food insecurity and remedying this condition may be important to reduce the prevalence of bullying. This highlights the need to design and implement sex- and age-specific interventions focusing on remedying food insecurity and bullying victimization among in-school adolescents by taking country income levels into account.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Anxiety in Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Lasheras ◽  
Patricia Gracia-García ◽  
Darren Lipnicki ◽  
Juan Bueno-Notivol ◽  
Raúl López-Antón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Manual Search ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Treatment Prognosis

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has brought a great deal of pressure for medical students, who typically show elevated anxiety rates. Our aim is to investigate the prevalence of anxiety in medical students during this pandemic. This systematic review and mini meta-analysis has been conducted following the PRISMA guidelines. Two researchers independently searched PubMed on 26 August 2020 for cross-sectional studies on medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak, with no language restrictions applied. We then performed a manual search to detect other potentially eligible investigations. To the 1361 records retrieved in the initial search, 4 more were added by manual search on medRxiv. Finally, eight studies were finally included for qualitative and quantitative analysis, which yielded an estimated prevalence of anxiety of 28% (95% CI: 22–34%), with significant heterogeneity between studies. The prevalence of anxiety in medical students is similar to that prior to the pandemic but correlates with several specific COVID-related stressors. While some preventive and risk factors have been previously identified in a non-pandemic context, knowledge and cognitions on COVID-19 transmission, treatment, prognosis and prevention negatively correlate with anxiety, emerging as a key preventive factor that may provide a rationale for why the levels of anxiety have remained stable in medical students during the pandemic while increasing in their non-medical peers and the general population. Other reasons for the invariability of anxiety rates in this population are discussed. A major limitation of our review is that Chinese students comprised 89% the total sample, which could compromise the external validity of our work

Differential Parent and Teacher Reports of ADHD Symptoms According to the Child’s Country of Origin: A Quantitative Study From Denmark Exploring the Implication for Diagnosis

2019 ◽  
pp. 108705471989530
Author(s):  
Armin Sahuric ◽  
Lena Hohwü ◽  
Kathrine Bang Madsen ◽  
Astrid Fyrstenborg Christensen ◽  
Maria Vandborg Snefstrup ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Immigrant Parents ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Multiple Logistic Regression ◽  
Adhd Symptoms ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Teacher Reports ◽  
Strengths And Difficulties

Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in parent- and teacher-reported ADHD symptoms according to the child’s country of origin. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 4,207 nonimmigrant (Danish origin) and 233 immigrant (non-Danish origin) children including ratings of phenotypical ADHD symptoms on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires. The association between ADHD symptoms and country of origin, separately for parents and teachers, was analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results: Teachers reported similar numbers of ADHD symptoms for immigrant and nonimmigrant children (odds ratio [OR] = 0.95, confidence interval [CI] = [0.58, 1.54]), whereas immigrant parents were less likely than nonimmigrant parents to report ADHD symptoms (OR = 0.42, CI = [0.21, 0.84]). Conclusion: Immigrant parents were less likely than nonimmigrant parents to report ADHD symptoms, whereas the teachers reported similar amount of ADHD symptoms in the two groups of children. Our results emphasize the importance of paying attention to teacher reporting of ADHD symptoms when assessing immigrant children.

scholarly journals The Prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome in Patients with Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Hooman Ghasemi ◽  
Behnam Khaledi-Paveh ◽  
Alireza Abdi ◽  
Rostam Jalali ◽  
Nader Salari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Restless Legs Syndrome ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Knowledge Network ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Neurologic Disorder ◽  
Restless Legs ◽  
Persian Language

Background. Migraine is a severe and debilitating neurologic disorder and is claimed to be the sixth disabling illness in the world. This study aimed to determine the overall prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in patients with migraine through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods. To identify and select related studies, the Scopus, ScienceDirect, Embase, SID, IranDoc, Web of Science, Knowledge Network System Medline (PubMed), and Google Scholar databases were searched. All related cross-sectional studies, published in English or Persian language between January 2000 and December 2019 and using the keywords such as migraine, restless leg syndrome, sleep disorder, RLS, and migraine disorder, were collected. The heterogeneity of the studies was assessed using the I2 index, and the data analysis was performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. Results. Analysis was conducted on the reported results of the final 12 articles with the total sample size of 15196. The overall prevalence of RLS in patients with migraine was 16.3% (95% CI: 12.6–20.8%). The prevalence of RLS migraine patients decreased with increasing the sample size, and the prevalence of RLS migraine patients increased with increasing the research year, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion. This study highlights that RLS is high in patients with migraine, and therefore, the clinicians should be aware of its incidence and take preventive measures.

scholarly journals The relationship between depression and risk of metabolic syndrome: a meta‐analysis of observational studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Moradi ◽  
Ahmed N Albatineh ◽  
Hassan Mahmoodi ◽  
Reza Ghanei Gheshlagh
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Syndrome ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Newcastle Ottawa Scale ◽  
Cross Sectional Studies ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Ottawa Scale

Abstract Introduction The link between metabolic syndrome and depression has always been controversial. Different studies that have examined the relationship between metabolic syndrome and depression have reported different results. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to examine the association between depression and MetS by meta-analysis. Methods Embase, Scopus, PubMed, and ISI were searched for publications in English from January 1990 to February 2020. Search included cohort and cross-sectional studies aimed at examining the association between depression and MetS. The risk of bias was assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Heterogeneity and publication bias were tested, subgroup analysis and meta-regression were conducted. Results 49 studies with total sample size 399,494 were analyzed. Results indicated the odds of MetS was higher in depressed compared to non-depressed individuals [OR: 1.48; 95 %CI: 1.33–1.64) vs. (OR: 1.38; 95 %CI: 1.17–1.64)]. For cross-sectional studies, depressed patients in Europe (OR = 1.35; 95 %CI: 1.47–1.99) were at higher odds of MetS compared to those in America and Asia. For cohort studies, depressed patients in America (OR = 1.46; 95 %CI: 1.16–1.84) were at higher odds of MetS than those in Europe. Cross-sectional studies indicated women with depression were at higher odds of MetS (OR = 1.95; 95 %CI: 1.38–2.74) compared to men. In both types of studies, the odds of MetS decreased with age. Conclusions Metabolic syndrome is more common in depressed compared to non-depressed individuals.

scholarly journals Common Genetic Influences on Age at Pubertal Voice Change and BMI in Male Twins

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoon-Mi Hur
Keyword(s):  
Pubertal Timing ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Phenotypic Correlation ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Voice Change ◽  
Bivariate Model ◽  
South Korean ◽  
The Mean

AbstractThe present study aimed to explore secular trends in age at voice change (AVC), estimate heritability of AVC and investigate to what extent common genes influence the association between AVC and body mass index (BMI) in South Korean males. The sample of 955 male twins consisted of 241 pairs and 118 co-twin missing monozygotic (MZ) twins, 82 pairs and 50 co-twin missing dizygotic (DZ) twins and 141 male members of opposite-sex DZ twins who participated in telephone surveys in the South Korean Twin Registry. AVC was asked of twins during the surveys. The mean (SD) age of the sample was 18.92 (2.42) years (range: 16.00–29.25 years). The birth years of the twins were divided into two groups (1988–1993, 1994–2001). Kaplan–Meyer survival analyses were conducted to compute the mean age of AVC in the total sample as well as to test mean differences between the two birth cohorts. Maximum likelihood twin correlations and univariate and bivariate model-fitting analyses were performed. The mean AVC in the total sample was 14.19 (95% CI [14.09, 14.29]) years. The mean AVC significantly declined from 14.38 to 14.02 years from 1988 to 2001, confirming downward trends in AVC in recent years. Heritability for AVC was .59 (95% CI [.50, .67]), which was within the range reported in most Western twin studies. Although the phenotypic correlation between AVC and BMI was modest (r = −.14; 95% CI [−.07, −.21]), it was entirely mediated by common genes, similar to what has been found in females in prior twin studies. In conclusion, the present twin study underscores the importance of genetic influences on pubertal timing and its association with BMI in South Korean males.

Why twin studies really don't tell us much about human heritability

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 904-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney J. Segalowitz
Keyword(s):  
Research Design ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Environmental Variance ◽  
Design Behaviour

The derivation of heritability from human twin studies involves serious methodological flaws. Heritability is consistently overestimated because of biological confounds of twinning, consistent and often gross underestimation of the environmental variance, and nonadditive genetic influences that can hugely exaggerate heritability values. Despite this bad research design, behaviour geneticists continue to publish results implying that their heritability results are valid.

scholarly journals The Temporal Stability of In-Group Favoritism Is Mostly Attributable to Genetic Factors

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 897-903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary J. Lewis ◽  
Timothy C. Bates
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Twin Design ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
The Stability

Twin studies of in-group favoritism have reported roughly equal influences of genetic and environmental factors. All, however, have solely relied on cross-sectional approaches, leaving open the question of whether genetic and environmental factors have similar roles on stability and change for in-group favoritism across time. While in-group favoritism is commonly perceived to reflect environmental influences, stable environmental effects are rare for psychological traits, thus suggesting that genetic influences may play the major role in the stability of favoritism. Here, we used addressed this issue using a 10-year (two waves) longitudinal twin design. In-group favoritism showed high rank-order stability ( r = .67). Seventy four percent of this rank-order stability was attributable to genes. A broadly similar pattern was observed for race, ethnic, and religious favoritism. By contrast, changes in favoritism almost entirely reflected nonshared environmental influences. These findings indicate that environmental influences underpin change in favoritism, while the stability of favoritism mostly reflects genetic influences.

Bias in Variance Components Due to Nonresponse in Twin Studies

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annica Dominicus ◽  
Juni Palmgren ◽  
Nancy L. Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Variance Components ◽  
Variance Component ◽  
Pair Correlation ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Perceptual Speed ◽  
Environmental Variance ◽  
Variance Component Estimates

AbstractIncomplete data on trait values may bias estimates of genetic and environmental variance components obtained from twin analyses. If the nonresponse mechanism is ‘ignorable’ then methods such as full information maximum likelihood estimation will produce consistent variance component estimates. If, however, nonresponse is ‘nonignorable’, then the situation is more complicated. We demonstrate that a within-pair correlation of nonresponse, possibly different for monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, may well be compatible with ‘ignorability’. By means of Monte Carlo simulation, we assess the potential bias in variance component estimates for different types of nonresponse mechanisms. The simulation results guide the interpretation of analyses of data on perceptual speed from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. The results suggest that the dramatic decrease in genetic influences on perceptual speed observed after 13 years of follow-up is not attributable solely to dropout from the study, and thus support the hypothesis that genetic influences on some cognitive abilities decrease with age in late life.

scholarly journals The Heritability of Cognitive Aging: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Twin Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 1026-1026
Author(s):  
Alice Kim ◽  
Alyssa Kam ◽  
Maxwell Kofman ◽  
Christopher Beam
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Environmental Variance ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Adult Twins

Abstract Heritability of cognitive ability changes across late adulthood, although whether genetic variance increases or decreases in importance is not understood well. We performed a systematic review of the heritability of cognitive ability derived from longitudinal twin studies of middle-aged and older adult twins. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, articles were identified in APA PsycINFO and Clarivate Web of Science electronic databases. Identified articles were screened by title and abstract; remaining full-text articles were then fully evaluated. Reference sections served as an additional method for identification of relevant articles. In total, 3,106 articles were identified and screened, 28 of which were included and were based on data from 10 longitudinal twin studies published from 1994-2021. There are large genetic influences on an initial level of cognitive performance across domains whereas there are small to moderate genetic influences on change in performance with age. Evidence was less definitive about whether the same or different genetic factors contribute to both level and change. Non-shared environmental influences appeared to drive individual changes in cognitive performance. Heritability tended to either be stable or decline after 65 years, possibly because of the increasing importance of non-shared environmental influences on cognitive ability. Recent studies report increases in heritability across specific subtests and domains. Shared environmental variance accounted for little variance in cognitive ability. Emerging research questions and future directions for understanding genetic and environment influences in the context of gene-environment interplay are highlighted in this review.

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