Dutch Twin Registry BMI and Obesogenic Environment Study

2764 adult twins from the Dutch Twin Registry were analyzed for associations between neighborhood obesogenic characteristics and BMI. The study used the OBCT-index, integrating food-environment healthiness, walkability, drivability, and sports facilities within a 1,000-meter buffer. Heritability estimates were 9% for the OBCT-index and 75% for BMI.

Use Cases

• Analyze the association between the OBCT-index and BMI values within twin pairs to control for shared genetic and environmental factors.
• Model the heritability of BMI (75%) versus the OBCT-index (9%) to explore genetic versus environmental contributions to obesity.
• Investigate the components of the OBCT-index—food-environment healthiness, walkability, drivability, and sports facilities—as predictors of individual BMI.
• Use twin zygosity status (72% monozygotic) to perform within-pair difference analyses on environmental exposure and BMI outcome.

Strengths

• Data from 2764 adult individuals provides a substantial twin cohort for analysis.
• Includes detailed zygosity information (72% monozygotic) enabling within-pair comparisons.
• OBCT-index integrates four specific built environment characteristics measured within a standardized 1,000-meter buffer.
• Study design explicitly separates individual-level and within-twin-pair associations.

Limitations

• Sample is geographically limited to the Netherlands, reducing generalizability.
• Cohort is 77% female, indicating a gender imbalance.
• The 296.0 KB file size suggests the available data is summary-level or supplementary material, not the full raw dataset.

Provenance

Source

Dutch Twin Registry

Collection Method

Cross-sectional study using residential address buffers and twin model analyses.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-26

Geography

Netherlands