Biodemography And Social Biology[JOURNAL]
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200 papers
Fertility History, Children's Gender, and Post-Reproductive Survival in a Longevous Population.
Poulain M, Herm A, Chambre D … +1 more , Pes G
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27809663 · Publisher ↗
The question of whether mothers' fertility history influences their post-reproductive survival has been addressed frequently in the scientific literature. Using data from Villagrande Strisaili, Sardinia, where longevity...
The question of whether mothers' fertility history influences their post-reproductive survival has been addressed frequently in the scientific literature. Using data from Villagrande Strisaili, Sardinia, where longevity is higher than anywhere else in Europe, we analyzed the relationship between the fertility pattern of mothers who survived past age 50 (n = 539) and their post-reproductive lifespan. We find that, after adjustment for potential confounders (mothers' birth cohort, survival of spouse), the mothers who on average delivered their children later displayed a reduced mortality risk (‒2.9 percent for each additional year), supporting previously reported findings. We also find that a male-skewed offspring ratio was associated with decreased mortality risk of mothers, with longer survival of mothers who delivered their sons above age 35 (p = 0.005), a result not found for daughters. So far, no biological explanation has been suggested for the positive effect of delivering sons later in life. We conjecture that in our dataset stronger nonbiological factors such as gender-specific sociocultural and economic factors may have masked the negative effect reported in other populations, for which a biological explanation was proposed.
Lifetime Trauma, Praying for Others, and C-Reactive Protein.
Krause N, Ironson G, Pargament KI
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27809662 · Publisher ↗
Research indicates that praying for others may offset the effects of stress on self-rated health and psychological well-being. The purpose of the current study is to extend this literature by seeing whether praying for o...
Research indicates that praying for others may offset the effects of stress on self-rated health and psychological well-being. The purpose of the current study is to extend this literature by seeing whether praying for others moderates the effects of exposure to lifetime trauma on a key marker of inflammation: C-reactive protein. The data come from a recent nationwide survey of adults of all ages (N = 1,589). Levels of C-reactive protein were obtained from assays of blood spots drawn from a capillary fingerstick. The findings suggest that the magnitude of the relationship between lifetime trauma and C-reactive protein is completely offset for study participants who frequently pray for others. The theoretical implications of this research are discussed.
The Theoretical Potential for Selection on Determinants of Fertility to Cause Aggregate Fertility Increases in Human Populations.
Cranney S
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27809661 · Publisher ↗
While prior literature on the genetics of human fertility outcomes and attitudes has generally yielded significantly positive results in developed-country contexts, the implications of this dynamic for the potential for...
While prior literature on the genetics of human fertility outcomes and attitudes has generally yielded significantly positive results in developed-country contexts, the implications of this dynamic for the potential for intergenerational increases in fertility are rarely raised. Here the prior literature on the subject is discussed in light of its implications for future changes due to selection, equations traditionally used in human demography are integrated into an evolutionary biological framework, and speculative calculations on the change in future fertility assuming already published numbers for parities and heritability are conducted. Limitations and overall conclusions are discussed.
A Longitudinal Study of Income Differences in the Height-BMI Relation among U.S. Children Ages 6 to 14.
Murasko JE
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27809660 · Publisher ↗
Previous work has shown a positive height-obesity association in U.S. children that is more pronounced in those from lower-income families than in those from higher-income families. That work has been limited to cross-se...
Previous work has shown a positive height-obesity association in U.S. children that is more pronounced in those from lower-income families than in those from higher-income families. That work has been limited to cross-sectional analysis. This study evaluates income differentials in the inter-temporal associations between childhood height and obesity in U.S. children ages 6 to 14. Pooled samples of 9,670 female and 10,110 male children from the U.S. Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) were evaluated in multilevel mixed effects models. The results indicated a modest height-income interaction such that the concurrent height-obesity association was weaker at higher incomes. This strengthened into adolescence for females and weakened for males. With respect to height growth, for lower-income males, being shorter before the typical start of the growth spurt (≈ 9 years) and experiencing faster later growth (between 11 and 14 years) were attributes less strongly associated with subsequent obesity. There were no indicated income interactions with height growth in females.
Between (Racial) Groups and a Hard Place: An Exploration of Social Science Approaches to Race and Genetics, 2000-2014.
Byrd WC, Best LE
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27809658 · Publisher ↗
As the social sciences expand their involvement in genetic and genomic research, more information is needed to understand how theoretical concepts are applied to genetic data found in social surveys. Given the layers of...
As the social sciences expand their involvement in genetic and genomic research, more information is needed to understand how theoretical concepts are applied to genetic data found in social surveys. Given the layers of complexity of studying race in relation to genetics and genomics, it is important to identify the varying approaches used to discuss and operationalize race and identity by social scientists. The present study explores how social scientists have used race, ethnicity, and ancestry in studies published in four social science journals from 2000 to 2014. We identify not only how race, ethnicity, and ancestry are classified and conceptualized in this growing area of research, but also how these concepts are incorporated into the methodology and presentation of results, all of which structure the discussion of race, identity, and inequality. This research indicates the slippage between concepts, classifications, and their use by social scientists in their genetics-related research. The current study can assist social scientists with clarifying their use and interpretations of race and ethnicity with the incorporation of genetic data, while limiting possible misinterpretations of the complexities of the connection between genetics and the social world.
Validation of an Optimized ELISA for Quantitative Assessment of Epstein-Barr Virus Antibodies from Dried Blood Spots.
Eick G, Urlacher SS, McDade TW … +2 more , Kowal P, Snodgrass JJ
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337556 · Full text
Our objective was to validate a commercially available ELISA to measure antibody titers against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in dried blood spots (DBS) to replace a previously validated assay for DBS that is no longer availa...
Our objective was to validate a commercially available ELISA to measure antibody titers against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in dried blood spots (DBS) to replace a previously validated assay for DBS that is no longer available. We evaluated the precision, reliability, and stability of the assay for the measurement of EBV antibodies in matched plasma, fingerprick DBS, and venous blood DBS samples from 208 individuals. Effects of hematocrit and DBS sample matrix on EBV antibody determination were also investigated, and the cutoff for seropositivity in DBS was determined. A conversion equation was derived to enable comparison of results generated using this method with the former DBS method. There was a high correlation between plasma and DBS EBV antibody titers (R(2) = 0.93) with very little bias (-0.07 based on Bland-Altman analysis). The assay showed good linearity and did not appear to be affected by the DBS matrix, and physiological hematocrit levels had no effect on assay performance. There was reasonable agreement between DBS EBV titer estimates obtained using this assay and the previously validated assay (R(2) = 0.72). The commercially available ELISA assay for EBV antibody titers that we validated for use with DBS will facilitate continued investigation of EBV antibody titers in DBS.
Population Distributions of Thymic Function in Adults: Variation by Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Status.
Feinstein L, Ferrando-Martínez S, Leal M … +5 more , Zhou X, Sempowski GD, Wildman DE, Uddin M, Aiello AE
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337555 · Full text
The thymus is critical for mounting an effective immune response and maintaining health. However, epidemiologic studies characterizing thymic function in the population setting are lacking. Using data from 263 adults in...
The thymus is critical for mounting an effective immune response and maintaining health. However, epidemiologic studies characterizing thymic function in the population setting are lacking. Using data from 263 adults in the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study, we examined thymic function as measured by the number of signal joint T-cell receptor excision circles (sjTREC) and assessed associations with established indicators of physiological health. Overall, increasing age and male gender were significantly associated with reduced thymic function. Adjusting for covariates, individuals with elevated levels of the pro-inflammatory biomarkers C-reactive protein (β: -0.50 [95% CI: -0.82, -0.18] for moderate elevation, β: -0.29 [95% CI: -0.59, 0.00] for high elevation) and interleukin-6 (β: -0.60 [95% CI: -0.92, -0.28] for moderate elevation, β: -0.43 [95% CI: -0.77, -0.08] for severe elevation) also had lower thymic function. Compared to individuals with a BMI < 25, individuals who were overweight (β: 0.36 [95% CI: 0.07, 0.64]) or obese (β: 0.27 [95% CI: -0.03, 0.56]) had higher thymic function. Differences by self-rated health were not statistically significant. Our findings underscore demographic- and health-related gradients in thymic function among adult residents of Detroit, suggesting thymic function may be an important biomarker of health status in adults at the population level.
Clostridium difficile Infection: An Emerging Cause of Death in the Twenty-First Century.
Abdullatif VN, Noymer A
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337554 · Publisher ↗
Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile is major emerging cause of death in the U.S. Between 1999 and 2012, C. diff. deaths rose by a staggering almost ten-fold amount, to 7,739 from 793. This article has three goals....
Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile is major emerging cause of death in the U.S. Between 1999 and 2012, C. diff. deaths rose by a staggering almost ten-fold amount, to 7,739 from 793. This article has three goals. First, we present a demographic description of C. diff. mortality in the U.S. since 1999. Second, we test a hypothesis that the increase in C. diff. deaths is due to population aging. We find that the emergence of this cause of death follows a proportional hazard pattern above age 40. Thus, population aging is not the only factor responsible for the increase in C. diff. deaths. This, combined with a contributory cause of death analysis, points towards health care-based strategies to combat C. diff. Third, we demonstrate a simple weighted least squares technique for estimating Gompertz models that gives parameter estimates that are closer to full maximum likelihood than conventional approaches.
Genome-Wide Profiling of RNA from Dried Blood Spots: Convergence with Bioinformatic Results Derived from Whole Venous Blood and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells.
McDade TW, M Ross K, L Fried R … +4 more , Arevalo JM, Ma J, Miller GE, Cole SW
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337553 · Full text
Genome-wide transcriptional profiling has emerged as a powerful tool for analyzing biological mechanisms underlying social gradients in health, but utilization in population-based studies has been hampered by logistical...
Genome-wide transcriptional profiling has emerged as a powerful tool for analyzing biological mechanisms underlying social gradients in health, but utilization in population-based studies has been hampered by logistical constraints and costs associated with venipuncture blood sampling. Dried blood spots (DBS) provide a minimally invasive, low-cost alternative to venipuncture, and in this article we evaluate how closely the substantive results from DBS transcriptional profiling correspond to those derived from parallel analyses of gold-standard venous blood samples (PAXgene whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells [PBMC]). Analyses focused on differences in gene expression between African-Americans and Caucasians in a community sample of 82 healthy adults (age 18-70 years; mean 35). Across 19,679 named gene transcripts, DBS-derived values correlated r = .85 with both PAXgene and PBMC values. Results from bioinformatics analyses of gene expression derived from DBS samples were concordant with PAXgene and PBMC samples in identifying increased Type I interferon signaling and up-regulated activity of monocytes and natural killer (NK) cells in African-Americans compared to Caucasian participants. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of DBS in field-based studies of gene expression and encourage future studies of human transcriptome dynamics in larger, more representative samples than are possible with clinic- or lab-based research designs.
An Old Mom Keeps You Young: Mother's Age at Last Birth and Offspring Longevity in Nineteenth-Century Utah.
Hin S, Ogórek B, Hedefalk F
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337552 · Publisher ↗
This study analyzes the intergenerational effects of late childbearing on offspring's adult longevity in a population in Utah (United States) that does not display evidence of parity-specific birth control-a so-called na...
This study analyzes the intergenerational effects of late childbearing on offspring's adult longevity in a population in Utah (United States) that does not display evidence of parity-specific birth control-a so-called natural fertility population. Studies have found that for women who experience late menopause and prolonged reproduction, aging is postponed and longevity is increased. This is believed to indicate female "robustness" and the impact of biological or genetic factors. If indeed there is a genetic component involved, one would expect to also find evidence for the intergenerational transmission of longevity benefits. Our study investigates the relationship between prolonged natural fertility of mothers and their offspring's survival rates in adulthood. Gompertz regression models (N = 7,716) revealed that the offspring of mothers who were naturally fertile until a relatively advanced age lived significantly longer. This observed positive effect of late reproduction was not independent of but conditional upon survival of the mother to the end of her fecundity (defined as age 50). Offspring's relative risks at death beyond age 50 were 6-12 percent lower than those of their counterparts born to mothers who had an average age at last birth. Our results, which account for various early, adult, and later-life conditions, as well as shared frailty, suggest that there is a positive relationship between mother's age at last birth and offspring longevity, and strengthen the notion that age at menopause is a good predictor of this relationship.
The Changing Body Mass-Mortality Association in the United States: Evidence of Sex-Specific Cohort Trends from Three National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.
Yu Y
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27337551 · Publisher ↗
The association between body mass index (BMI) categories and mortality remains uncertain. Using three National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys covering the 1971-2006 period for cohorts born between 1896 and 1968...
The association between body mass index (BMI) categories and mortality remains uncertain. Using three National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys covering the 1971-2006 period for cohorts born between 1896 and 1968, this study estimates separately for men and women models for year-of-birth (cohort) and year-of-observation (period) trends in how age-specific mortality rates differ across BMI categories. Among women, relative to the normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)), there are increasing trends in mortality rates for the overweight (BMI 25-29.9) or obese (BMI ≥ 30). Among men, mortality rates relative to the normal weight decrease for the overweight, do not change for the moderately obese (BMI 30-34.9), and increase for the severely obese (BMI ≥ 35). Period and cohort trends are similar, but the cohort trends are more consistent. In the latest cohorts, compared with the normal weight, mortality rates are 50 percent lower for overweight men, not different for moderately obese men, and 100-200 percent higher for severely obese men and for overweight or obese women. For U.S. cohorts born after the 1920s, a lower overweight than normal weight mortality is confined to men. I speculate on possible reasons why the mortality association with overweight and obesity varies by sex and cohort.
The Geographic Distribution of Genetic Risk as Compared to Social Risk for Chronic Diseases in the United States.
Rehkopf DH, Domingue BW, Cullen MR
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050037 · Full text
There is an association between chronic disease and geography, and there is evidence that the environment plays a critical role in this relationship. Yet at the same time, there is known to be substantial geographic vari...
There is an association between chronic disease and geography, and there is evidence that the environment plays a critical role in this relationship. Yet at the same time, there is known to be substantial geographic variation by ancestry across the United States. Resulting geographic genetic variation-that is, the extent to which single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to chronic disease vary spatially-could thus drive some part of the association between geography and disease. We describe the variation in chronic disease genetic risk by state of birth by taking risk SNPs from genome-wide association study meta-analyses for coronary artery disease, diabetes, and ischemic stroke and creating polygenic risk scores. We compare the amount of variability across state of birth in these polygenic scores to the variability in parental education, own education, earnings, and wealth. Our primary finding is that the polygenic risk scores are only weakly differentially distributed across U.S. states. The magnitude of the differences in geographic distribution is very small in comparison to the distribution of social and economic factors and thus is not likely sufficient to have a meaningful effect on geographic disease differences by U.S. state.
Differential Vulnerability to Early-Life Parental Death: The Moderating Effects of Family Suicide History on Risks for Major Depression and Substance Abuse in Later Life.
Hollingshaus MS, Coon H, Crowell SE … +4 more , Gray DD, Hanson HA, Pimentel R, Smith KR
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050036 · Full text
Only a portion of those individuals exposed to parental death in early life (PDE) develop behavioral health disorders. We utilized demographic pedigree data from the Utah Population Database to test for differential vuln...
Only a portion of those individuals exposed to parental death in early life (PDE) develop behavioral health disorders. We utilized demographic pedigree data from the Utah Population Database to test for differential vulnerability to PDE by creating a risk score of familial susceptibility to suicide (FS) at the population level. Using logistic panel regression models, we tested for multiplicative interactions between PDE and FS on the risks of major depressive disorder (MDD) and substance abuse (SA), measured using Medicare claims, after age 65. The final sample included 155,983 individuals (born 1886-1944), yielding 1,431,060 person-years at risk (1992-2009). Net of several potential confounders, including probability of survival to age 65, we found an FS × PDE interaction for females, in which PDE and FS as main effects had no impact but jointly increased MDD risk. No statistically significant main or interactive effects were found for SA among females or for either phenotype among males. Our findings are consistent with a differential vulnerability model for MDD in females, in which early-life stress increases the risk for poor behavioral health only among the vulnerable. Furthermore, we demonstrate how demographic and pedigree data might serve as tools for investigating differential vulnerability hypotheses.
Neighborhood and Family Environment of Expectant Mothers May Influence Prenatal Programming of Adult Cancer Risk: Discussion and an Illustrative DNA Methylation Example.
King KE, Kane JB, Scarbrough P … +2 more , Hoyo C, Murphy SK
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050035 · Full text
Childhood stressors including physical abuse predict adult cancer risk. Prior research portrays this finding as an indirect mechanism that operates through coping behaviors, including adult smoking, or through increased...
Childhood stressors including physical abuse predict adult cancer risk. Prior research portrays this finding as an indirect mechanism that operates through coping behaviors, including adult smoking, or through increased toxic exposures during childhood. Little is known about potential direct causal mechanisms between early-life stressors and adult cancer. Because prenatal conditions can affect gene expression by altering DNA methylation, with implications for adult health, we hypothesize that maternal stress may program methylation of cancer-linked genes during gametogenesis. To illustrate this hypothesis, we related maternal social resources to methylation at the imprinted MEG3 differentially methylated regulatory region, which has been linked to multiple cancer types. Mothers (n = 489) from a diverse birth cohort (Durham, North Carolina) provided newborns' cord blood and completed a questionnaire. Newborns of currently married mothers showed lower (-0.321 SD, p < .05) methylation compared to newborns of never-married mothers, who did not differ from newborns whose mothers were cohabiting and others (adjusted for demographics). MEG3 DNA methylation levels were also lower when maternal grandmothers co-resided before pregnancy (-0.314 SD, p < .05). A 1-SD increase in prenatal neighborhood disadvantage also predicted higher methylation (-0.137 SD, p < .05). In conclusion, we found that maternal social resources may result in differential methylation of MEG3, which demonstrates a potential partial mechanism priming socially disadvantaged newborns for later risk of some cancers.
Estimating Telomere Length Heritability in an Unrelated Sample of Adults: Is Heritability of Telomere Length Modified by Life Course Socioeconomic Status?
Faul JD, Mitchell CM, Smith JA … +1 more , Zhao W
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050034 · Full text
Telomere length (TL) is a widely used marker of biological aging and is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Recently, there has been evidence for an association between TL and socioeconomic stat...
Telomere length (TL) is a widely used marker of biological aging and is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Recently, there has been evidence for an association between TL and socioeconomic status (SES), particularly for measures of education and childhood SES. Individual differences in TL are also influenced by genetic factors, with heritability estimates from twin and sibling studies ranging from 34 to 82 percent. Yet the additive heritability of TL as a result of measured genetic variations and the extent to which heritability is modified by SES is still unknown. Data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative cohort of older adults (mean age 69 years), were used to provide the first estimates of molecular-based heritability of TL using genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA). We found that additive genetic variance contributed 28 percent (p = .012) of total phenotypic variance of TL in the European American sample (n = 3,290). Estimation using the GCTA and KING Robust relationship inference methods did not differ significantly in this sample. None of the variance from the gene-by-SES interactions examined contributed significantly to the total TL variance. Estimation of heritability and genetic interaction with SES in the African American sample (n = 442) was too unstable to provide reliable estimates.
Genetic Diversity and Differentiation in Urban and Indigenous Populations of Mexico: Patterns of Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Lineages.
González-Sobrino BZ, Pintado-Cortina AP, Sebastián-Medina L … +7 more , Morales-Mandujano F, Contreras AV, Aguilar YE, Chávez-Benavides J, Carrillo-Rodríguez A, Silva-Zolezzi I, Medrano-González L
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050033 · Publisher ↗
Aside from the admixture between indigenous people and people from overseas, populations in Mexico changed drastically after the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century, forming an intricate history that has been under...
Aside from the admixture between indigenous people and people from overseas, populations in Mexico changed drastically after the Spanish conquest of the sixteenth century, forming an intricate history that has been underutilized in understanding the genetic population structure of Mexicans. To infer historical processes of isolation, dispersal, and assimilation, we examined the phylogeography of mitochondrial (mt) DNA and Y-chromosome lineages in 3,026 individuals from 10 urban and nine indigenous populations by identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms. A geographic array with a predominance of Amerindian lineages was observed for mtDNA, with northern indigenous populations being divergent from the central and southern indigenous populations; urban populations showed low differentiation with isolation by distance. Y-chromosome variation distinguished urban and indigenous populations through the Amerindian haplogroup Q frequency. The MtDNA and the Y-chromosome together primarily distinguished urban and indigenous populations, with different geographic arrays for both. Gene flow across geographical distance and between the urban and indigenous realms appears to have altered the pre-Hispanic phylogeography in central and southern Mexico, mainly by displacement of women, while maintaining the indigenous isolation in the north, southeast, and Zapotec regions. Most Amerindian mtDNA diversity currently occurs in urban populations and appears to be reduced among indigenous people.
Social Networks and the Heritability of Migratory Behavior.
Napierala JS, Gage T
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050032 · Publisher ↗
A small but growing body of literature examines the relationship between genetics and human migration. These studies suggest that some DRD4 alleles, particularly 7R+, are related to migration. This is surprising from a s...
A small but growing body of literature examines the relationship between genetics and human migration. These studies suggest that some DRD4 alleles, particularly 7R+, are related to migration. This is surprising from a sociological perspective, which views migration largely as a product of social and economic forces. However, social relationships with migrants, which have been theorized to influence migration by providing access to migration-specific information and resources, can also be viewed as proxies for genetic relatedness within households. This study computed intraclass correlations for five relatedness groups, along with narrow-sense heritability and environmental correlations, using a large survey of Mexicans. Shared and independent variance components were estimated using multilevel models for the relatedness groups simultaneously with sex and age components. The results indicate that strong environmental influences are exerted on young family members and, to a lesser extent, males. On the other hand, genetic relatedness plays a large role in determining migration for older migrants and females; surprisingly, this is true for both domestic and international migrants.
African Ancestry, Social Factors, and Hypertension Among Non-Hispanic Blacks in the Health and Retirement Study.
Marden JR, Walter S, Kaufman JS … +1 more , Glymour MM
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050031 · Publisher ↗
The biomedical literature contains much speculation about possible genetic explanations for the large and persistent black-white disparities in hypertension, but profound social inequalities are also hypothesized to cont...
The biomedical literature contains much speculation about possible genetic explanations for the large and persistent black-white disparities in hypertension, but profound social inequalities are also hypothesized to contribute to this outcome. Our goal is to evaluate whether socioeconomic status (SES) differences provide a plausible mechanism for associations between African ancestry and hypertension in a U.S. cohort of older non-Hispanic blacks. We included only non-Hispanic black participants (N = 998) from the Health and Retirement Study who provided genetic data. We estimated percent African ancestry based on 84,075 independent single nucleotide polymorphisms using ADMIXTURE V1.23, imposing K = 4 ancestral populations, and categorized into quartiles. Hypertension status was self-reported in the year 2000. We used linear probability models (adjusted for age, sex, and southern birth) to predict prevalent hypertension with African ancestry quartile, before and after accounting for a small set of SES measures. Respondents with the highest quartile of African ancestry had 8 percentage points' (RD = 0.081; 95% CI: -0.001, 0.164) higher prevalence of hypertension compared to the lowest quartile. Adjustment for childhood disadvantage, education, income, and wealth explained over one-third (RD = 0.050; 95% CI: -0.034, 0.135) of the disparity. Explanations for the residual disparity remain unspecified and may include other indicators of SES or diet, lifestyle, and psychosocial mechanisms.
Genome-Wide Estimates of Heritability for Social Demographic Outcomes.
Domingue BW, Wedow R, Conley D … +3 more , McQueen M, Hoffmann TJ, Boardman JD
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2016 · PMID 27050030 · Full text
An increasing number of studies that are widely used in the demographic research community have collected genome-wide data from their respondents. It is therefore important that demographers have a proper understanding o...
An increasing number of studies that are widely used in the demographic research community have collected genome-wide data from their respondents. It is therefore important that demographers have a proper understanding of some of the methodological tools needed to analyze such data. This article details the underlying methodology behind one of the most common techniques for analyzing genome-wide data, genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA). GCTA models provide heritability estimates for health, health behaviors, or indicators of attainment using data from unrelated persons. Our goal was to describe this model, highlight the utility of the model for biodemographic research, and demonstrate the performance of this approach under modifications to the underlying assumptions. The first set of modifications involved changing the nature of the genetic data used to compute genetic similarities between individuals (the genetic relationship matrix). We then explored the sensitivity of the model to heteroscedastic errors. In general, GCTA estimates are found to be robust to the modifications proposed here, but we also highlight potential limitations of GCTA estimates.
Corrigendum.
Biodemography Soc Biol · 2015 · PMID 26652685 · Publisher ↗
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