ARCHIVES OF OTOLARYNGOLOGY
Heritability of Recurrent Tonsillitis
Ellen Kvestad, MD; Kari Jorunn Kvœrner, MD, PhD; Espen Røysamb, PhD; Kristian Tambs, PhD; Jennifer Ruth Harris, PhD; Per Magnus, MD, PhD
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, . . . [Full Text of this Article]