High heritability for a composite index of children's activity level measures.

Full Abstract

Despite the high heritability of children's activity level, which forms part of the core symptom domain of hyperactivity-impulsivity within attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), there has only been a limited success with identifying candidate genes involved in its etiology. This may reflect a lack of understanding about the different measures used to define activity level across studies. We aimed to study the genetic and environmental etiology across three measures of activity level:
parent and teacher ratings of hyperactivity-impulsivity and actigraph measurements, within a population-based sample of 463 7-9 year old twin pairs. We further examined ways in which the three measures could be combined for future molecular studies. Phenotypic correlations across measures were modest, but a common underlying phenotypic factor was highly heritable (92%); as was a simple aggregation of all three measurements (77%). This suggests that distilling what is common to all three measures may be a good method for generating a quantitative trait suitable for molecular studies of activity level in children. The high heritabilities found are encouraging in this respect.

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Author information

Author/s: Wood, Alexis C (AC); Rijsdijk, Frühling (F); Saudino, Kimberly J (KJ); Asherson, Philip (P); Kuntsi, Jonna (J);

Affiliation: Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, P.O. Box 80, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. alexis.wood(-atsign-)iop.kcl.ac.uk

Grants: 070345 (Agency:United Kingdom Wellcome Trust) ; MH062375 (Agency:United States NIMH) ; (Agency:United Kingdom Wellcome Trust)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Twin Study

Journal: Behavior genetics (Behav Genet), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-May; vol 38 (issue 3) : pp 266-76

Dates: Created 2008/04/08; Completed 2008/07/09; Revised 2008/08/04;

PMID: 18297388, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - genetics
Child
Family Health
Female
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Humans
Impulsive Behavior - genetics

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