TWINStudy of Environment, Lifestyle Behaviors and Health

项目摘要 这项研究的总体目标是确定个人生活的建筑环境（BE）， 每天的工作和娱乐都会影响他们的健康。这项建议将继续进行富有成效的研究 在一个以社区为基础的同卵双胞胎样本中， 小时候住在一起，但现在成年后分开居住。这一独特的样本使我们能够解决严重的 自我选择和因果方向的方法论问题，因为我们将研究这两个方面的变化 随着时间的推移，BE和健康，没有遗传和共同的环境（家庭）影响，否则会引入 在同一时间点研究的无关个体的研究中的偏差和残留混杂。我们是夫妻 地理空间数据分析和健康行为测量的先进方法， 数据库，以获得真实的时间和空间中的身体活动、饮食行为和BE的测量 连续体在这个更新应用程序中，我们以三个重要的方式建立在我们以前的工作基础上。一是 扩大我们的样本，包括种族/种族和社会经济地位（SES）的更大多样性，因为 这些因素深刻地影响着住宅的选择和健康。我们还将建立在我们大部分城市化的基础上， 通过从城市化程度较低的地区招募双胞胎进行抽样，因为这些地区的BE非常不同， 对健康的影响。我们假设，居住在“更健康”或“更适合步行”的BE中的同卵双胞胎， 有显着更大的步行和中度到剧烈的体力活动（MVPA）水平比共同双胞胎谁 居住在不太适合步行的BE。我们进一步假设，步行和MVPA水平将不同之间相同的 按种族/人种、社会经济地位和城市/农村分类的双胞胎对。其次，我们将建立一个相同的队列， 双胞胎，将被前瞻性地跟踪，以解决方向的因果关系的问题。我们假设双胞胎 家庭邻里BE的差异与步行和MVPA水平的双胞胎差异有关 随着时间我们进一步假设，家庭BE中的双胞胎差异与双胞胎在 家庭内外发生的活动和进食事件的数量随时间而变化。三是 整合行为与生物学数据，以研究肥胖相关措施中表观遗传特征， 同卵双胞胎，以及这些特征如何与暴露于致肥胖BE和健康相关 行为。我们假设不同的表观遗传特征（DNA甲基化）将存在于肥胖症中- 在同卵双胞胎中，包括有和没有腹部肥胖的双胞胎， 将与暴露于致肥胖BE以及活动和饮食行为相关。我们的科学方法 将行为和社会科学的模型与分子和计算措施相结合， 基因知情的双胞胎研究设计。最终，我们独特的方法和措施将带来新的， 将肥胖和慢性病的表观遗传、环境和行为方面联系起来的重要见解。

Project Summary The overall goal of this research is to determine how the built environment (BE) in which individuals live, work, and play in on a daily basis influences their health. This proposal will continue a productive line of research into associations among the BE and health in a community-based sample of identical twins who were reared together as children but now reside apart as adults. This unique sample permits us to address the serious methodological problems of self-selection and direction of causation because we will examine changes in both the BE and health over time, free of genetic and shared environmental (family) effects that otherwise introduce biases and residual confounding into research of unrelated individuals studied at one point in time. We couple advanced methods in geospatial data analysis and health behavior measurement with integrated spatial databases to obtain measures of physical activity, eating behaviors, and the BE in a real time and space continuum. In this renewal application, we build on our previous work in three important ways. First, we will expand our sample to include greater diversity in ethnicity/race and socio-economic status (SES) because both of these factors profoundly influence residential selection and health. We will also build on our mostly urbanized sample by recruiting twins from less urbanized areas because the BE is very different between these settings, with implications for health. We hypothesize that identical twins who reside in “healthier” or more “walkable” BEs have significantly greater walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels than co-twins who reside in less walkable BEs. We further hypothesize that walking and MVPA levels will differ between identical twin pairs by ethnicity/race, SES, and urban/rural classification. Second, we will establish a cohort of identical twins that will be followed prospectively to address the direction of causation problem. We hypothesize that twin differences in the home neighborhood BE are associated with twin differences in both walking and MVPA levels over time. We further hypothesize that twin differences in the home BE are associated with twin differences in the number of activity and eating events occurring within and outside the home BE over time. Third, we will integrate behavioral with biologic data to investigate epigenetic signatures in obesity-related measures in identical twins, and how these signatures are associated with exposure to an obesogenic BE and health behaviors. We hypothesize that distinct epigenetic signatures (DNA methylation) will be present in obesity- related measures in identical twins, including twins with and without abdominal obesity, and that these signatures will be associated with exposure to an obesogenic BE and activity and eating behaviors. Our scientific approach integrates models from the behavioral and social sciences with molecular and computational measures in a genetically informed twin research design. Ultimately, our unique methods and measures will lead to new and important insights linking epigenetic, environmental, and behavioral aspects of obesity and chronic disease.