2022

Epigenome-wide association study of physical activity and physiological parameters in discordant monozygotic twins

Duncan GE, Avery A, Thorson JLM, Nilsson EE, Beck D, Skinner MK. An epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) was performed on buccal cells from monozygotic-twins (MZ) reared together as children, but who live apart as adults. Cohorts of twin pairs were used to investigate associations between neighborhood walkability and objectively measured physical activity (PA) levels. Due […]

Cross-sectional associations between neighbourhood walkability and objective physical activity levels in identical twins

Duncan GE, Avery AR, Hurvitz P, Vernez-Moudon A, Tsang S Objectives  Physical activity is a cornerstone of chronic disease prevention and treatment, yet most US adults do not perform levels recommended for health. The neighborhood–built environment (BE) may support or hinder physical activity levels. This study investigated whether identical twins who reside in more walkable […]

Measuring and modelling perceptions of the built environment for epidemiological research using crowd-sourcing and image-based deep learning models

Larkin A, Krishna A, Chen L, Amram O, Avery AR, Duncan GE, Hystad P. Background Perceptions of the built environment, such as nature quality, beauty, relaxation, and safety, may be key factors linking the built environment to human health. However, few studies have examined these types of perceptions due to the difficulty in quantifying them […]

Bring Your Own Location Data: Use of Google Smartphone Location History Data for Environmental Health Research

Hystad P, Amram O, Oje F, Larkin A, Boakye K, Avery A, Gebremedhin A, Duncan G. Background Environmental exposures are commonly estimated using spatial methods, with most epidemiological studies relying on home addresses. Passively collected smartphone location data, like Google Location History (GLH) data, may present an opportunity to integrate existing long-term time-activity data. Objectives […]

Positive lifestyle behaviours and emotional health factors are associated with low back pain resilience

Roberts KE, Beckenkamp PR, Ferreira ML, Duncan GE, Calais-Ferreira L, Gatt JM, Ferreira P. Purpose To evaluate the relationship between lifestyle behaviours, emotional health factors, and low back pain (LBP) resilience. Methods This retrospective longitudinal study utilised 1,065 twins with a recent history of LBP from the Washington State Twin Registry. A lifestyle behaviour score […]

Changing genetic architecture of body mass index from infancy to early adulthood: an individual based pooled analysis of 25 twin cohorts

Silventoinen K, Li W, Jelenkovic A, Sund R, Yokoyama Y, Aaltonen S, Piirtola M, Sugawara M, Tanaka M, Matsumoto S, Baker LA, Tuvblad C, Tynelius P, Rasmussen F, Craig JM, Saffery R, Willemsen G, Bartels M, van Beijsterveldt CEM, Martin NG, Medland SE, Montgomery GW, Lichtenstein P, Krueger RF, McGue M, Pahlen S, Christensen K, […]

The pillars of health: influence of multiple lifestyle behaviors on body mass index and depressive symptoms in adult twins

Duncan GE, Avery AR, Tsang S, Watson NF, Williams BD, Turkheimer E. Background Guidelines promoting healthy lifestyles are cornerstones of chronic disease prevention and treatment. The purpose of this study is to investigate independent and joint associations of five key health behaviors with health outcomes (body mass index (BMI kg/m2) and depressive symptoms) in adult […]

Do married and/or cohabiting individuals fare better during the COVID-19 pandemic? Satisfaction with life and depression among adult twins in the United States

Tsang S, Avery AR, Duncan GE Due to social distancing measures implemented to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals are spending more time isolated at home with limited physical social interactions. The current study investigated whether marriage and/or cohabitation is associated with satisfaction with life and depression among 732 adult same-sex twin pairs (monozygotic and dizygotic) […]