- Teens With Epilepsy Face Higher Odds for Eating Disorders
- Head Injury Left Her Memory-Impaired. A New Brain Implant Has Brought Memory Back
- Flu, COVID Cases Climb as RSV Infections Start to Level Off
- STD Specialists Warn of Shortage of Vital Syphilis Drug
- Do You Overindulge During the Holidays? Poll Finds You’re Not Alone
- One Food Could Boost Health of Colon Cancer Survivors
- ‘High Altitude’ Simulations Might Shield Patients Ahead of Surgery
- Timing of Menopause Could Affect a Woman’s Muscle Loss
- Immediate Body Contact With Parents Helps Preemie Newborns Thrive
- Trim Your Holiday Stress This Season: Experts Offer Tips
DNA Can Predict Unusually Tall Height, Study Shows
DNA can be used to predict taller-than-average height, a new study finds.
This could prove useful in criminal investigations and in estimating if a child will be abnormally tall as an adult, the researchers said.
Their study of nearly 800 extremely tall adults and more than 9,000 normal-height people focused on 180 DNA variants previously linked to normal height differences. Forty percent of the DNA variants showed a significant effect on height in tall people.
The findings appeared Nov. 20 in the journal Human Genetics.
The study wasn’t as accurate as past research that used DNA to predict eye color, hair color and age, study leader Professor Manfred Kayser said in a journal news release.
“[Still], I expect that upcoming new knowledge on height genetics will further increase the accuracy in predicting tall stature, and eventually the full range of body height, from DNA,” said Kayser, a member of the department of forensic molecular biology at Erasmus University Medical Center, in the Netherlands.
That could help police when they’re trying to identify suspects in crimes.
“In forensics, DNA-based prediction of appearance traits such as height, eye color, hair color and age, is useful to find unknown perpetrators whose conventional DNA profiles are not known to the investigating authorities and who thus escape current DNA identification,” Kayser said.
There are also medical benefits for children with certain growth issues, said study co-author Professor Stenvert Drop, of the Erasmus University Medical Center’s department of pediatrics.
“DNA-based prediction of extreme body height is relevant in pediatrics to estimate the expected body height of a child in adulthood, which can assist in considering growth-limiting treatment,” Drop said in the news release.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website includes children’s growth charts.
Source: HealthDay
Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Related
-
Timing of Menopause Could Affect a Woman’s Muscle LossWomen who enter menopause early could be at increased...
- December 4, 2023
-
‘Couch Potato’ Lifestyle Could Raise Women’s Odds for FibroidsWomen in a Chinese study who sat for more...
- November 30, 2023
-
More Evidence That Regular Mammograms Save LivesA woman who gets her regular mammograms as scheduled...
- November 30, 2023
-
Long COVID Now Common in U.S. Nursing HomesRepeated COVID-19 outbreaks in nursing homes have had a...
- November 27, 2023
