Family resemblance for anthropometric and blood pressure measurements in black Caribs and Creoles from St. Vincent Island

This paper examines family resemblance for five anthropometric measurements (height, weight, triceps skinfold, upper arm circumference relaxed [UACR] and flexed [UACF] and for systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a group of adult Caribbean islanders of primarily African ancestry. Six hypotheses...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of physical anthropology 1987-05, Vol.73 (1), p.33-39
Main Authors: Hutchinson, Janis, Byard, Pamela J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anthropometry
Blood Pressure
Body Height
Body Weight
Caribbean
Ethnic Groups
Female
Humans
Hypertension - ethnology
Hypertension - genetics
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity - ethnology
Obesity - genetics
Path analysis
Skinfold Thickness
West Indies
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Summary:This paper examines family resemblance for five anthropometric measurements (height, weight, triceps skinfold, upper arm circumference relaxed [UACR] and flexed [UACF] and for systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a group of adult Caribbean islanders of primarily African ancestry. Six hypotheses about family resemblance are tested by using path analysis and likelihood ratios. Significant intergenerational transmission is found only for height and UACR. For weight, UACF, and diastolic blood pressure, non‐transmissible sibling resemblance is the primary component of family resemblance, although significant marital resemblance exists for diastolic blood pressure. Triceps skinfold and systolic blood pressure show no evidence of any family resemblance. Although results for highly heritable traits such as height are comparable to reports from other populations, measurements with a large contribution from common family environment or residual environmental effects, such as triceps skinfold or blood pressure, have much lower family resemblance in this population than in other populations. We hypothesize that this difference is due to the fact that adult children and their parents do not share a common household in this culture and to the presence of major nonfamilial environmental factors contributing to obesity and hypertension in this population.
ISSN:0002-9483
1096-8644
DOI:10.1002/ajpa.1330730104