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Ellen Kvestad, MD; Kari Jorunn Kværner, MD, PhD; Espen Røysamb, PhD; Kristian Tambs, PhD; Jennifer Ruth Harris, PhD; Per Magnus, MD, PhD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2005;131:383-387.

Objective  To estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental effects on the variance in the liability of recurrent tonsillitis.

Design  Retrospective questionnaire data from a population-based cohort.

Setting  Population-based data from Norway.

Participants  A total of 9479 Norwegian twins born between January 1, 1967, and December 31, 1979, identified through the Medical Birth Registry of Norway.

Main Outcome Measure  Recurrent tonsillitis.

Results  The lifetime prevalence of recurrent tonsillitis was 11.7% (95% confidence interval, 11.0%-12.3%), with a significant predominance of female cases. The tetrachoric correlations for monozygotic twins were 0.71 for males and 0.60 for females. For dizygotic twins, the correlations were 0.12 for males, 0.14 for females, and 0.24 for dizygotic pairs of opposite sex. Structural equation modeling indicated that genetic effects explained 62% of the variation in the liability of recurrent tonsillitis. The remaining variance was attributed to individual environmental effects. There was no evidence of sex-specific genetic effects on the liability of recurrent tonsillitis.

Conclusion  There is evidence for a substantial genetic predisposition for recurrent tonsillitis.

Author Affiliations: Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo (Drs Kvestad, Røysamb, Tambs, Harris, and Magnus), and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Akershus University Hospital, University of Oslo (Dr Kværner).

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