Cotichini Rodolfo, Fagnani Corrado, Patriarca Valeria, Nisticò Lorenza, Brescianini Sonia, Cirrincione Rosalia, D'Ippolito Cristina, Pulciani Simonetta, Figà-Talamanca Lorenzo, Cannoni Stefania, Ristori Giovanni, Salvetti Marco, Tosi Roberto, Stazi Maria Antonietta
Centro nazionale di epidemiologia, sorveglianza e promozione della salute, Istituto superiore di sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma.
Epidemiol Prev. 2003 Sep-Oct;27(5):297-302.
Twins are a valuable resource for the study of complex traits. The twin method is substantially based on the comparison between correlations and concordance in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins and allows several applications in biomedical and molecular genetic research. It allows either the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the influences that genetic and environmental factors exert on phenotypes or the estimation of trait variability. Moreover, classical genetic linkage analysis is more powerful if performed in DZ twins. However, the twin method has some pitfalls, such as the necessity that collected samples be representative of both twin and general population. For this reason, over the last few years, a number of Countries have established population-based twin registers, which guarantee the maximum level of representation and, consequently, are of extreme value for epidemiological studies. Italy is also implementing a national twin register. The following is the description of the procedure that led to the establishment of the Italian Twin Registry.
双胞胎是研究复杂性状的宝贵资源。双胞胎研究方法主要基于对同卵双胞胎（MZ）和异卵双胞胎（DZ）之间相关性和一致性的比较，并在生物医学和分子遗传学研究中有多种应用。它既可以对遗传和环境因素对表型的影响进行定性和定量评估，也可以估计性状变异性。此外，经典的基因连锁分析在异卵双胞胎中进行时更有效力。然而，双胞胎研究方法存在一些缺陷，比如所收集的样本必须能够代表双胞胎群体和普通人群。因此，在过去几年里，许多国家都建立了基于人群的双胞胎登记册，这些登记册保证了最高水平的代表性，因而对流行病学研究具有极高价值。意大利也正在建立一个全国性的双胞胎登记册。以下是导致意大利双胞胎登记处建立的程序说明。
