Twin studies and quantitative genetics in premature ejaculation research

Abstract

Recently, investigators have put increasing efforts into understanding the genetic etiology of premature ejaculation. The quantitative genetic approach, in which twin and/or family data is used to measure heritability, has yielded results suggesting a heritable component accounting for around 30 % of the variance in premature ejaculation. Quantitative genetics is a useful tool not only to understand the heritability of a trait, but also to gain an understanding of the environmental effects that affect it. Furthermore, multivariate models allow for investigation of associations between different diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation (PE) (e.g., ejaculation latency time (ELT), various subjective or partner-related factors, both in terms of heritability and environmental effects. In this chapter, a brief introduction to the most common quantitative research methods as well as an overview of findings from quantitative genetic research on PE is presented. Quantitative genetic research methods and twin studies have several implications for molecular genetics, and may be used in tandem with genetic association studies to increase the understanding of the etiology of PE.