Extension of variance components approach to incorporate temporal trends and longitudinal pedigree data analysis

Here we present a method that permits one to evaluate genetic effects and to detect genetic linkages by using serial observations of quantitative traits in pedigrees. We developed a statistical method that incorporates longitudinal family data and genetic marker information into an estimating equations framework. With this approach, we can study changes in components over time that measure polygenic and major genetic variances as well as shared and individual-specific environmental effects. Our method provides a measure of heritability from analysis of longitudinal data. Results using longitudinal family data from the Center for Preventive Medicine (Nancy, France) are presented. The results of our analysis show that the apolipoprotein E locus has no effect on interindividual variability in systolic blood pressure. We found that the longitudinal measure of heritability of systolic blood pressure is 0.32. (C) 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.