Corey L A, Berg K, Pellock J M, Solaas M H, Nance W E, DeLorenzo R J
Department of Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 23298-0033.
Neurology. 1991 Sep;41(9):1433-6. doi: 10.1212/wnl.41.9.1433.
Twin studies provide an efficient method for examining the importance of genetic and environmental factors in the etiology of disorders such as epilepsy. Population-based twin registries are especially valuable for studies of this type since effects of reporting and self-selection biases on the resulting data are minimized. Among 14,352 twin pairs contained in the Virginia and Norwegian twin panels for whom questionnaire information was available, there was a history of epilepsy in one or both members of 286 pairs; febrile seizures were reported in 257 pairs. Analyses of questionnaire data revealed no significant differences in concordance rates between Virginian and Norwegian twins for either epilepsy or febrile seizures. Probandwise concordance rates for epilepsy were 0.19 in monozygotic twins and 0.07 in dizygotic twins. Analogous rates for febrile seizures were 0.33 (monozygotic) and 0.11 (dizygotic). These results provide further evidence that genetic factors do have a role in the expression of epilepsy and febrile seizures.
双胞胎研究为检验遗传和环境因素在癫痫等疾病病因中的重要性提供了一种有效的方法。基于人群的双胞胎登记册对于此类研究尤为有价值，因为报告和自我选择偏差对所得数据的影响被最小化。在弗吉尼亚和挪威双胞胎样本中的14352对双胞胎中，有问卷信息可用，其中286对双胞胎中的一方或双方有癫痫病史；257对报告有热性惊厥。对问卷数据的分析显示，弗吉尼亚和挪威双胞胎在癫痫或热性惊厥的一致性率上没有显著差异。单卵双胞胎中癫痫的先证者一致率为0.19，双卵双胞胎中为0.07。热性惊厥的类似比率分别为0.33（单卵）和0.11（双卵）。这些结果进一步证明遗传因素在癫痫和热性惊厥的表现中确实起作用。
