Test of a potential causal influence of earlier age of gambling initiation on gambling involvement and disorder: A multilevel discordant twin design.

Introduction. Cannabis use is strongly associated with the use and abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs. Gateway and common liabilities models have been employed to explain this relationship. We sought to examine this association using a combination of the discordant twin design and modeling methods.Method. We assess the relationship between early cannabis use and the subsequent use and abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs in a population-based sample of male and female twin pairs using four analyses: (i) analysis of the association between early cannabis use and other illicit drug use and abuse/dependence in the entire sample of twins, (ii) assessment of the influence of early cannabis use in twin 1 on twin 2's use or abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs, (iii) use of twin pairs discordant for early cannabis use in a discordant twin design and (iv) a model-fitting procedure.Results. We found: (i) a strong association between early cannabis use and use and abuse/dependence of other illicit drugs in the sample, (ii) twin 1's early cannabis use is significantly associated with the twin 2's other illicit drug use, (iii) the role of correlated genetic factors with some evidence for a causal influence, and (iv) the correlated liabilities model fits the data well.Conclusions. Early cannabis use is strongly associated with other illicit drug use and abuse/dependence. The relationship arises largely due to correlated genetic and environmental influences with persisting evidence for some causal influences.

Download Full-text

Substance Use and Sexual Intercourse Onsets in Adolescence: A Genetically Informative Discordant Twin Design

Journal of Adolescent Health ◽

10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.07.013 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 114-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Arielle R. Deutsch ◽

Wendy S. Slutske ◽

Andrew C. Heath ◽

Pamela A.F. Madden ◽

Nicholas G. Martin

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Sexual Intercourse ◽

Twin Design ◽

Discordant Twin

Download Full-text

Supplemental Material for Sex Differences in the Relative Influence of Marital Status and Parenthood on Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms: A Multilevel Discordant Twin Design

Journal of Abnormal Psychology ◽

10.1037/abn0000611.supp ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Marital Status ◽

Alcohol Use Disorder ◽

Relative Influence ◽

Twin Design ◽

Discordant Twin

Download Full-text

Early-life antibiotic use and risk of asthma and eczema: results of a discordant twin study

European Respiratory Journal ◽

10.1183/13993003.02021-2019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 55 (4) ◽

pp. 1902021

Author(s):

Elise M.A. Slob ◽

Bronwyn K. Brew ◽

Susanne J.H. Vijverberg ◽

Chantal J.A.R. Kats ◽

Cristina Longo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Twin Study ◽

Early Life ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Antibiotic Use ◽

Atopic Diseases ◽

Twin Design ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽

The Relationship ◽

Discordant Twin

RationaleEarly-life antibiotic use has been associated with the development of atopic diseases, but the aetiology remains unclear. To elucidate the aetiology, we used a discordant twin design to control for genetic and environmental confounding.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study in twins aged 3–10 years from the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR, n=35 365) and a replication study in twins aged 9 years from the Childhood and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS, n=7916). Antibiotic use was recorded at age 0–2 years. Doctor-diagnosed asthma and eczema were reported by parents when children were aged 3–12 years in both cohorts. Individuals were included in unmatched analyses and in co-twin control analyses with disease discordant twin pairs.ResultsEarly-life antibiotic use was associated with increased risk of asthma (NTR OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.28–1.41; CATSS OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.34–1.56) and eczema (NTR OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.03–1.13; CATSS OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01–1.14) in unmatched analyses. Co-twin analyses in monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs showed similar results for asthma (NTR OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.20–1.98; CATSS OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.28–3.13), but opposing results for eczema in the NTR (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.80–1.25) and the CATSS (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.12–2.49). The risk of asthma increased for antibiotics prescribed for respiratory infections (CATSS OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.34–1.56), but not for antibiotics commonly used for urinary tract/skin infections (CATSS OR 1.02, 95% CI 0.88–1.17).ConclusionChildren exposed to early-life antibiotic use, particularly prescribed for respiratory infections, may be at higher risk of asthma. This risk can still be observed when correcting for genetic and environmental factors. Our results could not elucidate whether the relationship between early-life antibiotic use and eczema is confounded by familial and genetic factors.

Download Full-text

From alcohol initiation to tolerance to problems: Discordant twin modeling of a developmental process

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579416000523 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 845-861 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Arielle R. Deutsch ◽

Wendy S. Slutske ◽

Michael T. Lynskey ◽

Kathleen K. Bucholz ◽

Pamela A. F. Madden ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alcohol Use ◽

Alcohol Use Disorder ◽

Developmental Process ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Causal Effect ◽

Time To Event ◽

Twin Design ◽

Time Period ◽

Disorder Symptom ◽

Discordant Twin

AbstractThe current study examined a stage-based alcohol use trajectory model to test for potential causal effects of earlier drinking milestones on later drinking milestones in a combined sample of two cohorts of Australian monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic twins (N= 7,398, ageM= 30.46,SD= 2.61, 61% male, 56% monozygotic twins). Ages of drinking, drunkenness, regular drinking, tolerance, first nontolerance alcohol use disorder symptom, and alcohol use disorder symptom onsets were assessed retrospectively. Ages of milestone attainment (i.e., age-of-onset) and time between milestones (i.e., time-to-event) were examined via frailty models within a multilevel discordant twin design. For age-of-onset models, earlier ages of onset of antecedent drinking milestones increased hazards for earlier ages of onset for more proximal subsequent drinking milestones. For the time-to-event models, however, earlier ages of onset for the “starting” milestone decreased risk for a shorter time period between the starting and the “ending” milestone. Earlier age of onset of intermediate milestones between starting and ending drinking milestones had the opposite effect, increasing risk for a shorter time period between the starting and ending milestones. These results are consistent with a causal effect of an earlier age of drinking milestone onset on temporally proximal subsequent drinking milestones.

Download Full-text

Sex differences in the relative influence of marital status and parenthood on alcohol use disorder symptoms: A multilevel discordant twin design.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology ◽

10.1037/abn0000611 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 129 (7) ◽

pp. 737-747

Author(s):

Genevieve F. Dash ◽

Nicholas G. Martin ◽

Michael T. Lynskey ◽

Wendy S. Slutske

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Alcohol Use ◽

Marital Status ◽

Alcohol Use Disorder ◽

Relative Influence ◽

Twin Design ◽

Discordant Twin

Download Full-text

The Family History Method in Disordered Gambling Research: A Comparison of Reports Obtained from Discordant Twin Pairs

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1375/twin.13.4.340 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 340-346 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Wendy S. Slutske ◽

Thomas M. Piasecki ◽

Jarrod M. Ellingson ◽

Nicholas G. Martin

Keyword(s):

Family History ◽

Problem Gambling ◽

Twin Study ◽

Disordered Gambling ◽

The Family ◽

History Of ◽

Gambling Involvement ◽

History Effect ◽

Gambling Frequency ◽

Discordant Twin

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine potential biases in family history reports of problem gambling and gambling frequency. Same-sex twin pairs discordant for a history of problem (n= 230 pairs) and pathological gambling (n= 48 pairs) and for three indexes of gambling frequency (ever gambling, monthly gambling, and weekly gambling;n= 44–517 pairs) were identified from a large Australian national twin study. The problem gambling affected twin was significantly more likely to endorse paternal problem gambling than the problem gambling unaffected cotwin (OR = 5.5), and similar findings were obtained for family history reports of gambling frequency (OR = 2.0–2.8). These results could not be explained by differences between the discordant pairs in whether they had spent time gambling with the parents; there was no association between a history of problem, monthly or weekly gambling and having gambled with the parents among discordant twin pairs. The results of this study suggest that relying solely on family history assessments of disordered gambling and gambling involvement can lead to incorrect estimates of the strength of the family history effect.

Download Full-text