Schwartz Joseph A, Rowland Meghan W, Beaver Kevin M
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Lincoln, NE 68588-0561, USA.
College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1273, USA.
J Affect Disord. 2014 Aug;164:139-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2014.04.015. Epub 2014 Apr 21.
Low cholesterol levels have been found to be associated with a wide range of behavioral problems, including violent and criminal behavior, and a wide range of psychological problems including impulsivity, depression, and other internalizing problems. The casual mechanisms underlying these associations remain largely unknown, but genetic factors may play a role in the etiology of such associations as previous research has found significant genetic influence on cholesterol levels and various deleterious behavioral and psychological outcomes. The current study addressed this existing gap in the literature by performing a genetically sensitive test of the association between cholesterol levels and various outcomes including levels of self-control, depressive symptoms, anger expression, and neuroticism.
DeFries-Fulker (DF) analysis was used to analyze data from 388 twin pairs nested within the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS).
The results of the genetically informed models revealed that high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels were negatively and significantly associated with depressive symptoms, had a marginally significant effect on neuroticism, and a nonsignificant effect on both anger expression and self-control.
The findings may not extrapolate to the larger population of American adults since the subsample of twins with cholesterol information may not be nationally representative.
Genetic influences play a significant role in the association between cholesterol levels and various deleterious outcomes and failing to control for these influences may result in model misspecification and may increase the probability of detecting a significant association when one does not actually exist.
研究发现低胆固醇水平与一系列行为问题有关，包括暴力和犯罪行为，以及一系列心理问题，如冲动、抑郁和其他内化问题。这些关联背后的因果机制在很大程度上仍然未知，但遗传因素可能在这些关联的病因中起作用，因为先前的研究发现遗传因素对胆固醇水平以及各种有害的行为和心理结果有显著影响。本研究通过对胆固醇水平与包括自我控制水平、抑郁症状、愤怒表达和神经质等各种结果之间的关联进行基因敏感性测试，填补了文献中的这一空白。
采用德弗里斯-富尔克（DF）分析法分析来自美国中年发展调查（MIDUS）中388对双胞胎的数据。
遗传信息模型的结果显示，高密度脂蛋白（HDL）胆固醇水平与抑郁症状呈显著负相关，对神经质有边缘显著影响，对愤怒表达和自我控制均无显著影响。
由于有胆固醇信息的双胞胎子样本可能不具有全国代表性，研究结果可能无法推广到更广泛的美国成年人群体。
遗传影响在胆固醇水平与各种有害结果之间的关联中起重要作用，未能控制这些影响可能导致模型设定错误，并可能增加在实际不存在显著关联时检测到显著关联的可能性。
