Familial aggregation of blood pressure and anthropometric variables in patrilocal households

Fifty-three households in a small Indian fishing community were surveyed for blood pressure, pulse rate, and anthropometric measurements (height, weight, and three skinfolds). In addition to nuclear family relationships, correlations for extended family members and in-laws living within a common household were estimated by maximum likelihood. Based on likelihood ratio tests, the hypothesis that correlations among genetically unrelated pairs from the same household are zero is rejected for systolic blood pressure. Among genetically related individuals, the degree of relationship does not affect the magnitude of the blood pressure correlations. For the anthropometric measurements, family resemblance is significant only for first-degree relatives, except that the correlation for uncle-child pairs is significant for subscapular skinfold, and brother-in-law-sister-in-law pairs resemble each other for height and weight. The results suggest that common household environment is a significant determinant of blood pressure but not fatness in this population.