Concordance (genetics)

In genetics, concordance is the probability that a pair of individuals will both have a certain characteristic (phenotypic trait) given that one of the pair has the characteristic. Concordance can be measured with concordance rates, reflecting the odds of one person having the trait if the other does. Important clinical examples include the chance of offspring having a certain disease if the mother has it, if the father has it, or if both parents have it. Concordance among siblings is similarly of interest: what are the odds of a subsequent offspring having the disease if an older child does? In research, concordance is often discussed in the context of both members of a pair of twins. Twins are concordant when both have or both lack a given trait. The ideal example of concordance is that of identical twins, because the genome is the same, an equivalence that helps in discovering causation via deconfounding, regarding genetic effects versus epigenetic and environmental effects (nature versus nurture).

For other uses, see Concordance (disambiguation).

In contrast, discordance occurs when a similar trait is not shared by the persons. Studies of twins have shown that genetic traits of monozygotic twins are fully concordant, whereas in dizygotic twins, half of genetic traits are concordant, while the other half are discordant. Discordant rates that are higher than concordant rates express the influence of the environment on twin traits.

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