In our recent COVID-19 survey, we asked participants several questions about their exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Most participants reported not having been diagnosed with COVID-19, with very few participants reported having household and/or family members diagnosed with COVID-19. However, 42.69% participants reported knowing at least one friend (and/or classmate) who was diagnosed with COVID-19. More than a quarter (26.03%) of the participants reported knowing at least one person from work (co-worker, client, and/or patient) who was diagnosed with COVID-19.
All posts by Ally Avery
COVID baseline update #3
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many social restrictions have been put in place in the hopes to slow down the spread of the virus. As a result, many of us have had to make changes in our daily lives accordingly. We examined whether self-perceived change in the amount of physical activity and sleep is associated with mental health.
COVID baseline update #2
We were interested in examining the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic affects mental health. Participants were asked to respond to a number of survey items designed to assess depression, stress, and anxiety.
Neighborhood Deprivation Moderates Shared and Unique Environmental Influences on Hazardous Drinking: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Co-Twin Study.
Rhew IC, Fleming CB, Tsang S, Horn E, Kosterman R, Duncan GE.
COVID-19 Intensive Data Collection
This research study is being done to examine the impact of COVID-19 on daily activities such as sleep and physical activity. In addition to the risk of COVID-19 infection, statewide restrictions such as stay-at-home orders have resulted in drastic impacts to people’s daily lives. We will collect one week of data 10 times over a 20-month period to measure sleep, daily activities, diet, and emotions. Data collected will allow us to see how COVID-19 impacts life on a day-to-day basis, and how this changes behaviors over time.
COVID-19 Survey
In March 2020 we developed a survey to collect information about COVID-19 from all adult members enrolled in the Washington State Twin Registry. The first survey completed is the baseline survey, and a follow-up survey will be sent out beginning in April 2020.
COVID baseline update #1
Purpose of the study
In light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding social restrictions to society, we aimed to examine the extent to which participants in WSTR are impacted by the recent events. Here is a brief summary of selected results. We would also like to thank the WSTR twins for participation and their continued support of the WSTR.
Transcriptomic and methylomic features in asthmatic and non-asthmatic twins.
Dhondalay GKR, Bunning B, Bauer RN, Barnathan ES, Maniscalco C, Baribaud F, Nadeau KC, Andorf S.
Insomnia and posttraumatic stress symptoms: Evidence of shared etiology.
Cox RC, Taylor S, Strachan E, Olatunji BO.
Travel Information
The closest airport to Everett Community College is the Paine Field airport, which is about 10 miles south. SeaTac International Airport is 46 miles south of Everett Community College.
There are several hotels within a 10-minute drive of Everett Community College.
Closest hotel:
- Red Lion Inn & Suites, only a 10-minute walk
Near the waterfront:
Downtown Everett:
Associations between changes in resilient coping and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.
Sinclair VG, Adams SM, Dietrich M.
2019 Twins Get Together
The contact information update form sent out during the 2018 thank you mailing received many responses from twins indicating that they wanted an event where they could meet other twins and learn about research being done by the WSTR. On June 19, 2019 we held the first Twins Get Together event at WSU Everett. 47 twins (21 complete pairs) attended this free evening event. Food was provided, and twins had the chance to talk with other twins and read about our research studies. We gave a short presentation about why twin studies are important, our past and present research, and addressed some of the frequently asked questions that we receive from twins, such as questions about zygosity (whether twins are identical or fraternal). Finally, we played a fun game of twin-themed BINGO which led into time for the twins to share stories with each other about their unique experiences as a twin.
We received positive feedback and will be planning similar get togethers for twins living near other WSU campuses. We are also in the early planning stages of a large celebration of twins to take place in the summer of 2020.
2019 Review
Not only is it the end of 2019, it’s also the end of a decade of incredible growth for the Washington State Twin Registry (formerly the University of Washington Twin Registry). Below we summarize some highlights of the past 10 years, as well as the past year.
Have you participated in one of our studies? We recently updated our completed studies page with links to the published findings from each study.
Decade in Review
On September 30, 2009, the University of Washington Twin Registry was awarded a large economic recovery grant which provided funding to increase the size of the Registry and available data. Over the past decade, the Registry has nearly tripled in size, adding over 6,000 new pairs of twins. In 2013, we modified our procedures to allow volunteers and twin children to join. In 2014, we held our first TwinFest event at the University of Washington. In 2015, the Registry moved from the University of Washington to Washington State University and became the Washington State Twin Registry (WSTR). Today, there are 9,761 twin pairs in the WSTR — 8,980 pairs are still actively participating. Our members reside in all 50 US states plus the District of Columbia, and around the world.
Year in Review
In 2019, we added 198 new pairs of twins. We had 6 active studies, and 1,407 unique twin pairs participated in those studies. 14 peer-reviewed publications were accepted. Our website had 171,537 visits from 151,838 users, and our Facebook page has 1,329 likes. We held a small get together at WSU Everett in June, which gave local twins the opportunity to meet other twins and learn about our research.
Coming in 2020!
Our second TwinFest event will be held August 8, 2020 in Everett, Washington. As we have updates, they will be posted on our website and on the Facebook event page. If you and/or your business would be interested in contributing, please send an email to Ally Avery.
As always, thank you for your continued support of and participation
in the Washington State Twin Registry!
Global metabolic profiling to model biological processes of aging in twins.
Bunning BJ, Contrepois K, Lee-McMullen B, Dhondalay GKR, Zhang W, Tupa D, Raeber O, Desai M, Nadeau KC, Snyder MP, Andorf S.
Genome-wide profiling of DNA methylome and transcriptome in peripheral blood monocytes for major depression: A Monozygotic Discordant Twin Study.
Zhu Y, Strachan E, Fowler E, Bacus T, Roy-Byrne P, Zhao J.
Cohort Profile: TWINS study of environment, lifestyle behaviours and health.
Duncan GE, Avery A, Hurvitz PM, Moudon AV, Tsang S, Turkheimer E.
Sleep Duration and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms: A Twin Study.
McCall CA, Turkheimer E, Tsang S, Avery A, Duncan GE, Watson NF.
The CODATwins Project: The Current Status and Recent Findings of COllaborative Project of Development of Anthropometrical Measures in Twins.
Silventoinen K, Jelenkovic A, Yokoyama Y, Sund R, Sugawara M, Tanaka M, Matsumoto S, Bogl LH, Freitas DL, Maia JA, Hjelmborg JVB, Aaltonen S, Piirtola M, Latvala A, Calais-Ferreira L, Oliveira VC, Ferreira PH, Ji F, Ning F, Pang Z, Ordoñana JR, Sánchez-Romera JF, Colodro-Conde L, Burt SA, Klump KL, Martin NG, Medland SE, Montgomery GW, Kandler C, McAdams TA, Eley TC, Gregory AM, Saudino KJ, Dubois L, Boivin M, Brendgen M, Dionne G, Vitaro F, Tarnoki AD, Tarnoki DL, Haworth CMA, Plomin R, Öncel SY, Aliev F, Medda E, Nisticò L, Toccaceli V, Craig JM, Saffery R, Siribaddana SH, Hotopf M, Sumathipala A, Rijsdijk F, Jeong HU, Spector T, Mangino M, Lachance G, Gatz M, Butler DA, Gao W, Yu C, Li L, Bayasgalan G, Narandalai D, Harden KP, Tucker-Drob EM, Christensen K, Skytthe A, Kyvik KO, Derom CA, Vlietinck RF, Loos RJF, Cozen W, Hwang AE, Mack TM, He M, Ding X, Silberg JL, Maes HH, Cutler TL, Hopper JL, Magnusson PKE, Pedersen NL, Dahl Aslan AK, Baker LA, Tuvblad C, Bjerregaard-Andersen M, Beck-Nielsen H, Sodemann M, Ullemar V, Almqvist C, Tan Q, Zhang D, Swan GE, Krasnow R, Jang KL, Knafo-Noam A, Mankuta D, Abramson L, Lichtenstein P, Krueger RF, McGue M, Pahlen S, Tynelius P, Rasmussen F, Duncan GE, Buchwald D, Corley RP, Huibregtse BM, Nelson TL, Whitfield KE, Franz CE, Kremen WS, Lyons MJ, Ooki S, Brandt I, Nilsen TS, Harris JR, Sung J, Park HA, Lee J, Lee SJ, Willemsen G, Bartels M, van Beijsterveldt CEM, Llewellyn CH, Fisher A, Rebato E, Busjahn A, Tomizawa R, Inui F, Watanabe M, Honda C, Sakai N, Hur YM, Sørensen TIA, Boomsma DI, Kaprio J.
The Washington State Twin Registry: 2019 Update
Duncan GE, Avery AR, Strachan E, Turkheimer E, Tsang S.
Probabilistic walking models using built environment and sociodemographic predictors
Moudon AV, Huang R, Stewart OT, Cohen-Cline H, Noonan C, Hurvitz PM, Duncan GE.