Heritability and segregation analysis of the level of HDL-cholesterol

Yun, Ji Eun; Nam, Chung Mo; Suh, Il; Jee, Sun Ha

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to investigate the familial correlation and heritability in HDL cholesterol through segregation analysis.
METHODS
This study, based on data from 11,117 Korean individuals ascertained pedigrees who had participated in 1998 and 2001 Korean National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects of segregation analysis were 4,688 Korean who had more than five members in their family.
RESULTS
Serum lipid levels revealed strong familial correlation among spouses, parent-offspring and siblings with low correlation of spouse. The heritability of HDL cholesterol was 54.8% after controlling for age, age2, gender, agexgender, waist circumference, smoking, alcohol drinking, exercise and education. Two models of inheritance, the Mendelian dominant model and the Mendelian codominant model were found in HDL cholesterol. In the codominant model, the predicted HDL-cholesterol for genotype AA, AB, and BB were 44.96, 49.13, and 69.67 mg/dl, respectively. However the Mendelian codominant model only was found in high risk families.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, randomly ascertained Korean families of this study showed strong familial aggregation in HDL cholesterol. The results suggested that the variations in HDL cholesterol may be influencing by major effect of gene.