Letter

Genetics mediate relation of birth weight to childhood IQ

BMJ 2001; 323 doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7326.1426a (Published 15 December 2001)
Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:1426.2

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  1. D I Boomsma (DI.Boomsma@fppl.psy.vu.nl), professor,
  2. C E M van Beijsterveldt, assistant professor,
  3. M J H Rietveld, PhD student,
  4. M Bartels, PhD student,
  5. G C M van Baal, associate professor
  1. Vrije Universiteit, Department of Biological Psychology, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    EDITOR—Matte et al reported an association between birth weight and childhood IQ.1 To control for confounding by maternal and family factors they examined this relation in sibships of the same sex and found an association between birth weight and IQ within male sibships. This association may be mediated by genetic factors.

    The impact of genetic factors on this association can be determined through the investigation of birth weight and IQ in twin pairs. Differences within dizygotic twin pairs are a function of both genetic and non-genetic factors, whereas differences within …

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