Bivariate Path Analysis of Plasma Lipids

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Abstract
Methods which allow for the analysis of the joint transmission of 2 phenotypes within a nuclear family are discussed and applied to the transmission of cholesterol and triglyceride. The analysis of data from 160 Caucasian nuclear families suggests a moderate degree of both genetic and residual environmental associaton between the 2 lipids. Although either the genetic correlation (.rho.G) or the residual environmental correlation (.rho.R) could be set equal to 0 without significantly increasing the residual .chi.2, simultaneously setting both correlations equal to 0 did significantly increase the .chi.2 statistic. The association between cholesterol and triglyceride could not be accounted for by common transmissible environmental effects alone.