Revisiting the Children-of-Twins Design: Improving Existing Models for the Exploration of Intergenerational Associations.

ABSTRACT: Datasets comprising twins and their children can be a useful tool for understanding the nature of intergenerational associations between parent and offspring phenotypes. In the present article we explore structural equation models previously used to analyse Children-of-Twins data, highlighting some limitations and considerations. We then present new variants of these models, showing that extending the models to include multiple offspring per parent addresses several of the limitations discussed. Accompanying the updated models, we provide power calculations and demonstrate with application to simulated data. We then apply to intergenerational analyses of height and weight, using a sub-study of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort (MoBa); the Intergenerational Transmission of Risk (IToR) p

SUBMITTER: McAdams TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6097723 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature