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Related Experiment Videos

Separating heredity and environment.

M Susser1

  • 1Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Faculty of Medicine, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine
|March 1, 1985
PubMed
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Separating genetic and environmental factors in diseases requires robust epidemiological designs. This review explores indicators and study designs, like twin and adoption studies, to disentangle heredity and environment.

Area of Science:

  • Epidemiology
  • Behavioral Genetics
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Familial aggregation of diseases presents challenges in distinguishing genetic from environmental influences.
  • Understanding the interplay of heredity and environment is crucial for effective disease prevention and treatment strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review epidemiological approaches for separating confounded genetic and environmental factors in disease etiology.
  • To classify indicators of genetic and environmental effects based on family recurrence patterns.
  • To evaluate various study designs for their efficacy in disentangling heredity and environment.

Main Methods:

  • Classification of genetic indicators (e.g., segregation analysis, linkage, heritability estimates, biological markers) with and without family recurrence.

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  • Classification of environmental indicators (e.g., non-Mendelian clustering, cohabitation, secular trends, migration) with and without family recurrence.
  • Review of study designs including twin studies, family set designs, and studies of separately reared relatives (e.g., adoption studies).

    • Main Results:

    • Different analytical approaches and indicators are available depending on the presence or absence of family recurrence for both genetic and environmental factors.
    • Twin studies, family set designs, and particularly studies of separately reared relatives offer cogent tests for genetic and environmental hypotheses.
    • Adoption studies, exemplified by Danish research on schizophrenia, criminality, and alcoholism, provide valuable insights when analyzed through epidemiological case-control and cohort perspectives.

    Conclusions:

    • Strong epidemiological designs are essential for accurately separating genetic and environmental contributions to disease.
    • Studies of separately reared relatives, especially adoption studies, are powerful tools for elucidating etiological factors.
    • Future research can leverage multiple family settings within the general population to further refine our understanding of heredity-environment interactions.