B2-9 Biological Variables in Height of Japanese Twins

• Published in: Anthropological Science Vol. 112; no. 3; p. 299
• Main Authors: Ayub Ali, Kumi Ashizawa, Sumiyo Kato, Chikako Koyama, Makiko Kouchi, Hiroshi Hoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Anthropological Society of Nippon 2004
• ISSN: 0918-7960

The aim of this study was to investigate the height growth of Japanese twin children. Bayes modal estimation method was applied to the BTT growth model to extract the biological variables for the samples of 92 boys and 99 girls from the monozygotic twins, and that of 41 boys and 31 girls from dizygotic twins born in 1960-1973, from the Twin Classes in the Junior and Senior High Schools affiliated to the University of Tokyo, Japan. In average, the monozygotic twins are matured earlier than dizygotic twins, but later than normal children. Until preadolescence, the height velocity of twin children is lower than that of normal children. This causes that the final stature of twin youth is smaller compared with that of normal youth. This study highlights that the twins are on average about 2.6 cm smaller than normal children in final height only due to the lower velocity during birth to pre-adolescence.