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Spouse selection and environmental effects on spouse correlation in lung function measures.

Matthew W Knuiman1, Mark L Divitini, Helen C Bartholomew

  • 1School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia. matthew@sph.uwa.edu.au

Annals of Epidemiology
|December 2, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Spousal similarity in lung function is primarily due to partner selection, not shared environmental factors. This effect is stronger when couples marry at younger ages, impacting heritability studies.

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Area of Science:

  • Pulmonary Medicine
  • Human Genetics
  • Sociology

Background:

  • Spousal similarity in physiological traits can arise from shared environments or assortative mating.
  • Understanding the drivers of this concordance is crucial for accurate heritability estimates in family studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantify spouse correlations for lung function measures.
  • To investigate the influence of marriage duration on these correlations.
  • To differentiate between partner selection and shared environmental effects.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data from 2615 couples in the Busselton Health Study (1969-1995).
  • Utilized the FISHER program for statistical analysis.
  • Adjusted for covariates including age, height, and smoking status.

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Main Results:

  • Initial correlations for forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were ~0.45 and for FEV1/FVC were ~0.25.
  • Adjusted correlations significantly decreased to ~0.05 (FEV1) and ~0.10 (FEV1/FVC).
  • No association found between marriage duration and lung function concordance; however, a negative trend was observed with age at marriage.

Conclusions:

  • Lung function concordance between spouses is largely attributable to partner selection, particularly for couples marrying at younger ages.
  • These findings suggest that shared environmental factors play a minimal role in spousal lung function similarity.
  • Researchers should be cautious in interpreting spousal correlations as solely indicative of common environmental influences in genetic studies.