Genetic and environmental influences on body measurements of Belgian twins

A study of 100 MZ and 67 DZ twin pairs aged 18 to 25 years has shown a highly significant genetic contribution to the following measurements: standing and sitting height; height on tragus; arm length; biacromial, biiliac, and bitrochanteric diameter; weight; circumference of thigh and of upper arm relaxed and contracted; and head length and breadth. The twins were brought up together and of the same socioeconomical, geographical, ethnical, and cultural origin. Zygosity diagnosis was based on 22 to 26 blood groups. The means of the measurements were smaller in MZ than in DZ twins, some of them significantly so. The intraclass correlation coefficients of the MZ cotwins were all significant and greater than those of the DZ cotwins. In families of same geographical origin, sib-sib correlations were somewhat smaller than those of the DZ cotwins, but for the three diameters of the body the order was reversed.