Smoking and drinking discordance and health condition: Japanese identical twins reared apart and together

Abstract

A total of 543 like-sex pairs of twins (407 MZ, 136 DZ) were sent mailed questionnaires on cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and health contitious. The observed concordance rate for alcohol drinking was significantly higher than expected in both MZ and DZ pairs. The observed concordance rate for cigarette smoking was significantly higher than expected in the MZ, but not the DZ pairs. The observed rate of intrapair concordance for drinking was significantly higher than expected even in MZ pairs reared apart from infancy or very early childhood. Higher life satisfaction was observed more often in the higher alcohol consumers than in the lower consumers among MZ pairs discordant for alcohol drinking, while earlier onset of presbyopia was observed more often in the lower consumers. Physical symptoms, especially pains in the upper extremities, were reported more often by higher alcohol consumers than by lower consumers in the MZ pairs discordant for drinking.