Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Association Between Quantitative Ultrasound and Bone Mineral Density Measurements: A Twin Study

This study was designed to assess the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the variation and covariation of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements and their relationships to bone mineral density (BMD). Forty‐nine monozygotic (MZ) and 44 dizygotic (DZ) female twins between 20 and 83 years of age (53 ± 13 years, mean ± SD) were studied. Digital (phalangeal) QUS (speed of sound [SOS]) and calcaneal QUS (broadband ultrasound attenuation [BUA] and velocity of sound [VOS]) were measured using a DBM Sonic 1200 ultrasound densitometer and a CUBA ultrasound densitometer, respectively. Femoral neck (FN), lumbar spine (LS), and total body (TB) BMD were measured using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry. Familial resemblance and hence heritability (proportion of variance of a trait attributable to genetic factors) were assessed by analysis of variance, univariate, and multivariate model‐fitting genetic analyses. In both QUS and BMD parameters, MZ twins were more alike than DZ pairs. Estimates of heritability for age‐ and weight‐adjusted BUA, VOS, and SOS were 0.74, 0.55, and 0.82, respectively. Corresponding indices of heritability for LS, FN, and TB BMD were 0.79, 0.77, and 0.82, respectively. In cross‐sectional analysis, both BUA and SOS, but not VOS, were independently associated with BMD measurements. However, analysis based on intrapair differences suggested that only BUA was related to BMD. Bivariate genetic analysis indicated that the genetic correlations between BUA and BMD ranged between 0.43 and 0.51 (p < 0.001), whereas the environmental correlations ranged between 0.20 and 0.28 (p < 0.01). While the genetic correlations within QUS and BMD measurements were significant, factor analysis indicates that common genes affect BMD at different sites. Also, individual QUS measurements appear to be influenced by some common sets of genes rather than by environmental factors. Significant environmental correlations were only found for BMD measurements and ranged between 0.50 and 0.65 (p < 0.001). These data suggest that QUS and BMD measurements are highly heritable traits. While it appears that there is a common set of genes influencing both QUS and BMD measurements, specific genes yet to be identified appear to have greater effects than that of shared genes in each trait.