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Group Kaprio
POPULATION-BASED FAMILY STUDIES UNSELECTED FOR DISEASE –
THE FINNISH TWIN COHORTS
Population-based twin cohorts represent a unique resource, as studies that combine the strengths of traditional epidemiological studies, namely representative population samples, with the strengths of genetic studies, namely access to informative families are relatively rare. Epidemiological studies have typically focused on risk of disease among individuals, while genetic studies have traditionally selected families based on a disease or trait of interest. Our group has built up a series of twin cohorts to address the genetic and environmental contribution to major health problems and their risk factors over the past 30 years.
Smoking and alcohol use & abuse are major risk factors for many cardiovascular and CNS diseases, such as CHD, and contribute to reduced life expectancy and decreased quality of life. For example, smoking is extremely common among patients with schizophrenia for reasons that are not well known. Finding genes contributing to smoking and nicotine addiction as well as alcohol dependence has proven to be as challenging as can be expected for a complex trait. Not all features of smoking and alcohol are heritable, and there is a need to delineate the heritable components of these complex behaviours. Smoking and alcohol use initiation are both primarily non-genetic, with a very low heritability estimates. Thus smoking and alcohol dependence are risk factors and intermediate phenotypes for CHD, schizophrenia and many other diseases with complex etiologies. Nicotine and alcohol dependence are also independent conditions which merit study of themselves. Understanding the genetics of substance use and abuse may help us to disentangle the complex genetics of many diseases of major public health impact.
 RESEARCH GROUP |
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Kaprio Jaakko, Professor |
| SENIOR SCIENTISTS: |
| Silventoinen Karri, PhD, adjunct prof. |
| POST-DOCTORAL SCIENTISTS: |
| Broms Ulla, PhD |
| Keski-Rahkonen Anna, MD, PhD |
| Korhonen Tellervo, PhD |
| Penninkilampi-Kerola Varpu, PhD |
| Pietiläinen Kirsi, MD, PhD |
| Saarni Suoma MD, PhD |
| Winter Torsten, PhD |
| PhD STUDENTS: |
| Heinonen-Gusejev Marja |
| Lajunen Hanna-Reetta |
| Lehtovirta Mikko |
| Mustelin Linda |
| Raevuori Anu |
| Sihvola Elina |
| Varjonen Jyrki |
| UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: |
| Hukkinen Maria |
| Koivumäki Kari |
| Koskimies Hanna |
| Pajari Matti |
| STAFF: |
| Heikkilä Kauko |
| Häppölä Anja |
| Khalighi-Sikaroudi Giti (part-time) |
| Kuha Hanna-Mari (part-time) |
| Kulmala-Gråhn Ulla |
| Levälahti Esko |
| Selinheimo Sanna (part-time) |
| Ruokolinna Pia |
| Saanakorpi Kristiina |
| Saarinen Marja |
| Siltala-Milton Mari |
| Yli-Pohja Sini (part-time) |
| Vahtera Terttu (part-time) |
| Voipio Eila |
| Vuoksimaa Eero |
Paul Lichtenstein, Niels Holm, Pia K Verkasalo, Anastasia Illiadou, Jaakko Kaprio, Markku Koskenvuo, Eero Pukkala, Axel Skytthe, Kari Hemminki. Environmental and heritable components of cancer: joint analyses of three Nordic twin cohorts. New Engl J Med 2000; 343:78-85.
Silventoinen K, Zdravkovic S, Skytthe A, McCarron P, Herskind AM,
Koskenvuo M, de Faire U, Pedersen N, Christensen K, Kaprio J.
Association between height and coronary heart disease mortality: a
prospective study of 35,000 twin pairs. Am J Epidemiol 2006;163:615-621.
Richard J. Rose, Richard J. Viken, Danielle M. Dick, John Bates, Lea Pulkkinen, Jaakko Kaprio. It Does Take a Village: Non-Familial Environments and Children’s Behavior. Psychol Science 2003; 14:273-277.
Barman SK, Pulkkinen L, Kaprio J, Rose RJ. Inattentiveness, parental smoking and adolescent smoking initiation. Addiction. 2004;99:1049-61.
Battie MC, Videman T, Gibbons LE, Manninen H, Gill K, Pope M, Kaprio J. Occupational driving and lumbar disc degeneration: a case-control study. Lancet 2002 ;360:1369-74.