Genetic and environmental factors on heart rate, mean arterial pressure and carotid intima–media thickness: A longitudinal twin study

Abstract

Background: Heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) are moderately heritable cardiovascular traits, but the environmental effects on the longitudinal change of their heritability have never been investigated. Methods: 368 Italian and Hungarian twins (107 monozygotic, 77 dizygotic) underwent oscillometric measurement and B-mode sonography of bilateral carotid arteries in 2009/2010 and 2014. Withinindividual/cross-study wave, cross-twin/within-study wave and cross-twin/cross-study wave correlations were estimated, and bivariate Cholesky models were fitted to decompose the total variance at each wave and covariance between study waves into additive genetic, shared and unique environmental components. Results: For each trait, a moderate longitudinal stability was observed, with within-individual/crosswave correlations of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.33-0.51) for HR, 0.34 (95% CI: 0.24-0.43) for MAP, and 0.23 (95% CI: 0.12-0.33) for cIMT. Cross-twin/cross-wave correlations in monozygotic pairs were all significant and substantially higher than the corresponding dizygotic correlations. Genetic continuity was the main source of longitudinal stability, with across-time genetic correlations of 0.52 (95% CI: 0.29-0.71) for HR, 0.56 (95% CI: 0.31-0.81) for MAP, and 0.36 (95% CI: 0.07-0.64) for cIMT. Overlapping genetic factors explained respectively 57%, 77%, and 68% of the longitudinal covariance of the HR, MAP and cIMT traits. Conclusions: Genetic factors have a substantial role in the longitudinal change of HR, MAP and cIMT; however, the influence of unique environmental factors remains relevant. Further studies should better elucidate whether epigenetic mechanisms have a role in influencing the stability of the investigated traits over time.

Assessments of Perfusion, Blood Flow, and Vascular Structure in Ambulatory Subjects: Guidance for Translational Research Scientists

“…Common carotid artery 45 [21,13,14,140,146,112,142,147,148,17,113,149,139,114,115,133,124,145,119,128,125,141,129,116,132,144,126,150,120,151,121,130,143,22,117,134,152,127,153,122,154,123,138,118] Internal carotid artery 1 [137] Brachial carotid artery 2 [155,156] Femoral artery 1 [135] Not reported 1 [131] Aspect of vasculature assessed…”

“…Atherosclerosis and carotid plaques 19 [21,13,14,140,142,147,17,149,139,136,125,141,151,155,22,123,118] Arterial stiffness 3 [113,129,138] Arterial thickness 14 [135,148,137,114,115,133,124,119,144,126,121,130,156,153,122] Nonspecific cardiovascular risk factors 12 [146,112,114,115,145,131,116,150,120,143,134,127] Organ damage 1 [128] Not reported 1 [154] Technique Ultrasound 49…”

Increased carotid intima-media thickness and cardiometabolic risk factors are associated with IL-6 gene polymorphisms in Mexican individuals: The Genetics of Atherosclerotic Disease Mexican study

“…Some studies have suggested that the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) serves as a rapid and reproducible marker for CAD [ 2 , 3 ]. Tarnoki et al [ 4 ] demonstrated the genetic influence on CIMT in a longitudinal twin study. Associations between increased CIMT and inflammation have been reported [ 5 , 6 ].…”