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Body Height and Incident Risk of Venous Thromboembolism : A Cosibling Design

Zöller, Bengt LU orcid ; Ji, Jianguang LU orcid ; Sundquist, Jan LU and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2017) In Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics 10(5).
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Body height has been associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the association can be confounded with shared familial factors (genetic/environmental). A cosibling design is useful for deeper understanding about the relationship between VTE and height.

METHODS AND RESULTS: From Swedish national registry databases, we used a corelative design with full siblings alongside a general Swedish population sample. A cohort of male conscripts (n=1 610 870), born in 1951 to 1992 without previous VTE, was followed from enlistment (1969-2010) until 2012. Another cohort of first-time pregnant women (n=1 093 342) from the medical birth register, without previous VTE, was followed from first pregnancy... (More)

BACKGROUND: Body height has been associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the association can be confounded with shared familial factors (genetic/environmental). A cosibling design is useful for deeper understanding about the relationship between VTE and height.

METHODS AND RESULTS: From Swedish national registry databases, we used a corelative design with full siblings alongside a general Swedish population sample. A cohort of male conscripts (n=1 610 870), born in 1951 to 1992 without previous VTE, was followed from enlistment (1969-2010) until 2012. Another cohort of first-time pregnant women (n=1 093 342) from the medical birth register, without previous VTE, was followed from first pregnancy (1982-2012) until 2012. Using the Multi-Generation Register, we identified all full-sibling pairs discordant for height. This cosibling design allowed for adjustment for familial factors (genetic/environmental). Compared with the tallest women (>185 cm) and men (>190 cm), there was a graded decreased risk by lower height for both men and women. The risk was lowest in women and men with the shortest stature (<155 and <160 cm, respectively): hazard ratios=0.31 (95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.42) and 0.35 (95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.55), respectively. There was a graded association also in the cosibling design comparing siblings with varying degree of discordance for height (reference was the taller sibling): ≥10 cm difference between brothers hazard ratios=0.69 (95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.78) and sisters hazard ratios=0.65 (95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.80), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Height is an independent predictor of VTE. The use of sibling pairs reduces the likelihood that familial confounding explains the results. The findings are important for the understanding of the pathogenesis of VTE.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Journal Article
in
Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics
volume
10
issue
5
article number
e001651
publisher
American Heart Association
external identifiers
  • pmid:28874396
  • scopus:85032912834
  • wos:000412129600002
ISSN
1942-325X
DOI
10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001651
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
86eb7dd6-633e-4e0b-863a-a75c724dd640
date added to LUP
2017-10-19 12:54:50
date last changed
2024-03-17 23:06:55
@article{86eb7dd6-633e-4e0b-863a-a75c724dd640,
  abstract     = {{<p>BACKGROUND: Body height has been associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), but the association can be confounded with shared familial factors (genetic/environmental). A cosibling design is useful for deeper understanding about the relationship between VTE and height.</p><p>METHODS AND RESULTS: From Swedish national registry databases, we used a corelative design with full siblings alongside a general Swedish population sample. A cohort of male conscripts (n=1 610 870), born in 1951 to 1992 without previous VTE, was followed from enlistment (1969-2010) until 2012. Another cohort of first-time pregnant women (n=1 093 342) from the medical birth register, without previous VTE, was followed from first pregnancy (1982-2012) until 2012. Using the Multi-Generation Register, we identified all full-sibling pairs discordant for height. This cosibling design allowed for adjustment for familial factors (genetic/environmental). Compared with the tallest women (&gt;185 cm) and men (&gt;190 cm), there was a graded decreased risk by lower height for both men and women. The risk was lowest in women and men with the shortest stature (&lt;155 and &lt;160 cm, respectively): hazard ratios=0.31 (95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.42) and 0.35 (95% confidence interval, 0.22-0.55), respectively. There was a graded association also in the cosibling design comparing siblings with varying degree of discordance for height (reference was the taller sibling): ≥10 cm difference between brothers hazard ratios=0.69 (95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.78) and sisters hazard ratios=0.65 (95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.80), respectively.</p><p>CONCLUSIONS: Height is an independent predictor of VTE. The use of sibling pairs reduces the likelihood that familial confounding explains the results. The findings are important for the understanding of the pathogenesis of VTE.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zöller, Bengt and Ji, Jianguang and Sundquist, Jan and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{1942-325X}},
  keywords     = {{Journal Article}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  publisher    = {{American Heart Association}},
  series       = {{Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics}},
  title        = {{Body Height and Incident Risk of Venous Thromboembolism : A Cosibling Design}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001651}},
  doi          = {{10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001651}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}