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This version published online on June 23, 2009
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism , doi:10.1210/jc.2008-1532
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Submitted on July 16, 2008
Accepted on June 16, 2009

Heritability and environmental factors affecting vitamin D status in rural Chinese adolescent Twins

Lester M. Arguelles MS, PhD*, Craig B. Langman MD, Adolfo J. Ariza MD, Farah N. Ali MD, Kimberley Dilley MD, Heather Price MS, CRA, Xin Liu MD, PhD, Shanchun Zhang MD, PhD, Xiumei Hong MD, PhD, Binyan Wang MD, PhD, Houxun Xing MD, Zhiping Li MD, Xue Liu MD, Wenbin Zhang ScB, Xiping Xu MD, PhD, and Xiaobin Wang MD, ScD

Mary Ann and J. Milburn Smith Child Health Research Program, Children's Memorial Hospital and Children's Memorial Research Center, and the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Kidney Diseases, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation, Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Institute for Biomedicine, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China; Center for Population Genetics, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, IL

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: LArguelles{at}childrensmemorial.org.

Context: Factors associated with the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in China are not well described, especially among Chinese adolescents.

Objectives: To examine important environmental or sociodemographic factors influencing 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and estimate its heritability.

Design: A sample of 226 male and female adolescent twins aged 13–20 years were from a large prospective twin cohort of rural Chinese children and adolescents that has been followed for 6 years were evaluated.

Main outcome measure(s): Blood level of 25(OH)D was measured using tandem mass spectrometry methodology.

Results: The overall mean (sd) 25(OH)D level was 18.0(9.4)ng/ml, with wide variation by gender and season. In males (47.4% of subjects), the mean(sd) 25(OH)D level was 12.1(4.2)ng/ml in non-summer and 27.4(8.8)ng/ml in summer; in females, it was10.1(4.1)ng/ml in non-summer and 19.5(6.3)ng/ml in summer. A multivariate model that included gender, age, season, physical activity, and student status demonstrated that male gender, summer season, and high physical activity significantly increased 25(OH)D levels. Summer season and male gender also significantly decreased the risk of being in the lowest 25(OH)D tertile. Overall, 68.9% of the variability in 25(OH)D level was attributable to additive genetic influence. Stratification by gender found that in males, 85.9% of the variability in 25(OH)D level was attributable to such influence, but in females, it was only 17%.

Conclusion: In this sample of rural Chinese adolescents, 25(OH)D level was influenced by gender, season, and physical activity level. There was a strong genetic influence on 25(OH)D level in males only.
Key words: Vitamin D • Chinese • adolescents • heritability • twins






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